When Li Mu heard that Hollywood was fighting for Hong Kong film rights, he was very pleased.
What he wanted was not to make money by hyping up Hong Kong film rights, but to help Hong Kong films, and even Chinese films, to enter the international market.
"Hong Kong Films" was a special term for the Chinese. Only the Chinese would classify films into Hong Kong Films, Mainland Films, and Taiwanese Films. In the eyes of the whole world, whether it was Mainland Films, Hong Kong Films, or Taiwanese Films, they were all collectively known as Chinese Films.
If a Hong Kong film became popular in North America, it would have a certain impact on the whole Chinese film industry. Now that Hollywood had started to fight for Hong Kong films, it would not be long before they started to fight for other Chinese films.
Before this, an excellent Chinese film was sold to North American distributors for no more than a few hundred thousand US dollars. Hollywood only valued their own films, and they looked down on all the overseas films equally. Therefore, they would try their best to lower the price. In their eyes, the demand for overseas films in North America was very high, and there were so many overseas films every year. Even if they could not get a deal for one film, they could still negotiate for thousands of films. So, the lower the price, the better.
But now, because of the success of "Zombie-Master," Hollywood was obviously more interested in Chinese films. In the near future, there would be a Chinese film craze in the whole North American market.
In Li Mu's eyes, the more excellent Chinese films could be shown in North America and other countries, the more successful the Chinese film and Hua Xia's cultural exports were.
However, Hong Kong's film companies did not see it that way. They had been suffering in the depression of Hong Kong's film industry for so long. Suddenly, thanks to Li Mu's efforts, they saw the light again. The film copyrights that they had accumulated and were not profitable were given commercial value overnight. So now they only had one thing in mind, that was, how to take the opportunity to make more money with the film copyrights in their hands.
After the price of "Infernal Affairs" plummeted, Huan Ya immediately contacted several first-tier Hong Kong film companies. The bosses of these companies sat together and talked about the progress of their copyright deals with Hollywood. After a careful understanding of the market, Huan Ya realized that their offer for "Infernal Affairs" was indeed ridiculously high.
So far, none of the companies that had reached a deal with Hollywood had succeeded in getting a "guaranteed share" agreement from the Hollywood distributors. All the offers from these distributors were, without exception, buying out the copyright outright, but the price was several times higher than before.
However, the other film companies were also very satisfied with this. After all, these copyrights were previously unsold. They couldn't even sell for ten thousand USD. Now, they could suddenly sell for hundreds of thousands of USD. For these companies, it was tantamount to a windfall.
But the boss of Huan Ya did not have the same mentality as them, because he felt that "Mr. Zombie" had made him lose too much. He had the opportunity to make tens of millions of US dollars with this film, but in the end, he didn't even get a hundred thousand US dollars.
It was precisely because of such a huge psychological gap that he hoped that "Infernal Affairs" could sell for a better price. However, he did not expect that Hollywood's distributors would "cool down" in an instant. Several companies withdrew from the competition, and the remaining companies also lowered their offers, which made the boss of Huanya even more depressed.
In order to sell "Infernal Affairs" at a better price, the boss of Huan Ya took the initiative to contact Makino Image. Although he hated Makino Image to the core, at this time, if he wanted to increase the value of "Infernal Affairs" in the North American market, he had to borrow the power of Makino Image.
Huan Ya expressed to Makino Image that they hoped to cooperate with Makino Image to develop the North American copyright of "Infernal Affairs". The specific decision of the operation would be made by Huan Ya. Makino Image did not need to invest in the project. As long as they promised to give "Infernal Affairs" enough promotion resources in the North American market, they would be able to get 30% of all the revenue that Huan Ya earned from "Infernal Affairs" in North America.
The person in charge of Makino Image reported the matter to Makino Image. On the way, when Li Mu took her to the junction of Yanjing, Jinshi, and Langfang for a field trip, Li Ziwei conveyed the news to Li Mu.
After listening, Li Mu said to Li Ziwei, "Tell Huan Ya that if they want to cooperate with us in the overseas market of" Infernal Affairs, "they have to show some sincerity. Let us change the terms of cooperation, and let us make the decision. First, give us the exclusive copyright license, and also give us the sub-license. Then, let us operate in the North American market. We will give them 30% of all the overseas revenue that 'Infernal Affairs' earns from the overseas market."
After saying that, Li Mu added, "By the way, tell them that we will not promise any promotion resources."
Li Ziwei nodded and asked tentatively, "Is this condition too harsh for Huan Ya?"
Li Mu said, "It seems a bit harsh, but the actual result is much better than working with any Hollywood distributor. I heard that the North American distribution rights of this movie can only be sold for five to six million US dollars. If they cooperate with us, with our marketing and operation resources, Huan Ya will definitely get a 30% share. It will definitely be better than selling them all at once."
After saying that, Li Mu said to Li Ziwei, "Contact the people at Warner Bros. and tell them that I am interested in buying back the English remake rights of 'Infernal Affairs' from them. The price will be double the original transaction price."
Li Mu felt that if Huan Ya could calm down and look at the problem, it would be best for him to cooperate with 'Infernal Affairs'. As for why he wanted to lower their share to 30%, it was because he needed to give more of the profit to the North American cinema chain, so that they could have an advantage in the distribution of the movie.
Mr. Zombie's box office seemed to be very high, but most of the revenue went to the cinema chain and Lucas Entertainment. Makino Image only got a small share. Moreover, in order to promote the movie, Mu Ying's ticketing system was now subsidizing the movie's box office by 5% in North America. That was another 5% of the revenue. In addition, the daily lottery also required a lot of money. Mr. Zombie had the great advantage of Plants vs Zombies Online, but he still had to pay such a price to succeed, let alone 'Infernal Affairs'.
If Huan Ya couldn't even understand this, and all he could think about was making more money, then Zhang Zian would let him do whatever he wanted. When the time came, Zhang Zian would buy back the English remake rights from Warner Bros., and then work with DreamWorks to make an American version of 'Infernal Affairs'.
Back in February of this year, Warner Bros. bought the remake rights of 'Infernal Affairs' for 1.75 million US dollars, which set a record for the remake rights of a Hong Kong film at the time.
If everything went according to plan, the Hollywood version of the movie would be officially launched next year. However, Warner Bros. was quite unlucky this year. The 'extreme samurai spirit' controversy caused by 'The Last Samurai' dealt a huge blow to Warner Bros., and they still hadn't recovered their reputation.
In addition, the future of director Edward Zwick and the lead actor Tom Cruise in the film industry also suffered a huge blow because of this movie. This also made other Hollywood stars wary of Warner Bros., as they were still the target of the global audience. Actors who worked with Warner Bros., even if they made a completely positive movie, would still be cursed on the internet. After all, Warner Bros. took the money of the Japanese Zaibatsu to make 'The Last Samurai', which promoted the extreme samurai spirit of fascism to the world. This brought a lot of hatred to Warner Bros., and they wouldn't be able to recover if they didn't tuck their tails between their legs for a period of time.
Moreover, the incident of 'The Last Samurai' had also caused a great shock to Warner Bros. 'executives. Li Mu speculated that the entire pace of Warner Bros.' film industry would be greatly affected. So, whether or not they could get a Hollywood version of 'Infernal Affairs' next year was still a big problem.
At this time, Warner Bros. wouldn't hold on to a movie that hadn't been officially launched yet. Plus, his own ticketing system was currently controlling the box office in North America, so Warner Bros. would have to give him some face.
Li Mu's plan was to buy the rights from Warner Bros., and then use Makino Image and DreamWorks to jointly invest in the movie. Then, he would ask Martin Scorsese to direct the movie, and find Leonardo, Matt Damon, and Tom Hanks to act in the movie. Leonardo would still play the role of Liang Chaowei, Matt Damon would still play the role of Liu Dehua, and Tom Hanks, who was a little older, would play the role of Huang Qiusheng.
After watching the American version of 'Infernal Affairs' in his previous life, Li Mu had always felt that Martin Sheen, who originally played the role of Huang Qiusheng, was a little weak in the movie. If Tom Hanks, a veteran actor, were to play the role of Huang Qiusheng, the effect would definitely be better.
Moreover, Li Mu wanted to shoot the American version of 'Infernal Affairs' because it was a remake of Hua Xia's movie, which was a very good recognition of the quality of Hua Xia's movie. Also, in his previous life, the American version of 'Infernal Affairs' won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. It was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
In fact, two of Leonardo's movies were nominated for the Oscars for Best Actor. One was the American version of 'Infernal Affairs', and the other was' Blood Diamond '. Because the same actor could only be nominated for one movie, the final nominee was' Blood Diamond '. In other words, if the two movies were nominated for the Oscars separately, both of them would be nominated for Best Actor.
Because the Oscars used a lobbying system, when competing for awards, in addition to the quality of the actor and the movie itself, one also had to rely on the resources behind them. Harvey was a strong contender for the Oscars, but unfortunately, his reputation was in tatters. On the other hand, Li Mu had money and enough influence around the world. He also had partners like Spielberg and DreamWorks, as well as the Makino ticketing system that was deeply rooted in the cinema terminals. Combined with the script of 'Infernal Affairs', the influence of Martin Scorsese, and the influence of Leonardo and Tom Hanks, winning the four awards that the American version of 'Infernal Affairs' had already won would definitely not be a problem.
Moreover, if it weren't for 'Blood Diamond', Leonardo would definitely have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor through the American version of 'Infernal Affairs'. When that time came, all he had to do was pour in some resources to help Leonardo win an Academy Award for Best Actor!
If the American version of 'Infernal Affairs' that Li Mu invested in could win the Oscars for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing, it would definitely be the biggest winner of the Oscars. Moreover, the investor and producer of this movie would be Hua Xia's Makino Image!
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