The launch of the American version of "Infernal Affairs" was exceptionally smooth. After DreamWorks communicated with Ben Affleck, the latter agreed to participate in the film even before he had seen the script. He also agreed to play the role of Liu Jianming, an undercover police officer. Martin Scorsese approved of the cast of Leonardo, Ben Affleck, and Tom Hanks. As for the rest of the roles, Li Mu was left to Scorsese to decide.
After the director and lead actors were confirmed, Makino Image and DreamWorks immediately signed the relevant cooperation agreement and started working on the script.
Since the filming of "Flying Tigers" was expected to be completed in early September, the American version of "Infernal Affairs" was tentatively scheduled to start preparations in August and officially start filming at the end of October.
"Infernal Affairs" was an urban film through and through. All of its story was structured in a spatial dimension and even took place in a single city, so filming was not difficult. The estimated filming time was about two to three months, and if there were no accidents, it could be completed by the beginning of next year.
At this pace, it was impossible to compete for the Oscars next year. The film would be released in the first half of next year or during the summer, and then it would participate in the Academy Awards in February or March of the following year.
In Li Mu's opinion, with the lineup of "Infernal Affairs" + Martin Scorsese + Leonardo, Tom Hanks, and the support of his own strong resources, winning a few Oscars this year was not a problem at all.
Just as the American version of "Infernal Affairs" was taking shape, the total box office of "Zombie-Master" in North America had exceeded 200 million US dollars, and it only took an astonishing seven and a half days to achieve this number.
Although the subsequent box office was a little weaker than before, the decline was very steady. Based on this estimate, it was not a problem to earn another 100 million US dollars in the remaining screening period.
Hollywood and the Hong Kong film industry were so shocked by the amazing achievements of this movie that they were numb to it. The direct impact on Hollywood and the Hong Kong film industry was that Hong Kong had recently released several zombie-themed movies. Hollywood companies were already negotiating with Huan Ya about the North American remake rights, adaptation rights, and continuation rights of "Zombie-master".
Huan Ya had been trying hard to sell "Infernal Affairs" for a high price, but it had not been sold yet. Now that the news of Li Mu's remake had spread, Hollywood's interest in the original "Infernal Affairs" was even weaker.
The handling and narrative of the film were not in line with the taste of the North American audience. Makino Image was not involved, so it would be difficult for Hollywood to promote the film in North America. Now that Makino Image had abandoned Huan Ya and was prepared to invest in the remake, Hollywood companies could also guess that the relationship between Makino Image and Huan Ya was not very good, and might even be a little strained. Therefore, they had to worry that Makino Image, since it controlled the ticketing system. Would make things difficult for the original of Infernal Affairs in North America? Even if it was just a small reduction in the number of screenings, it would be enough to make the distribution company suffer.
"Mr. Zombie" had missed out on a lot of income, and "Infernal Affairs" had failed to make money, which made Huan Ya's anger towards Makino Image reach its peak. Therefore, when a few Hollywood companies wanted to buy all of the English and derivative rights of "Mr. Zombie", Huan Ya was prepared to take this opportunity to make a lot of money, and cause some trouble for Makino Image.
Huan Ya knew very well that there were still a lot of zombie films that Makino Image had overseas distribution rights. This meant that the huge profit that "Zombie-master" made in North America was only the beginning of Makino Image's money. Next, the film would definitely be released all over the world, and Plants vs Zombies Online players all over the world would fork out money for it. When the film was done making money all over the world, Makino Image could release the rights of other zombie films to make another round of profit. That way, Makino Image would definitely make a lot of money.
What made Huan Ya angry was that most of the high-quality zombie films were sold out from his own hands. This meant that they had to bear with the pain of watching Makino Image use their rights to make more money.
Therefore, Huan Ya decided to trip Makino Image up by selling the rights to remake, adaptation, and sequels of "Mr. Zombie" to Hollywood, allowing them to make a big deal out of it. This way, not only would he be able to make a lot of money through the rights, but he would also be able to get these Hollywood studios to suppress Makino Image, and reduce the profits that Makino Image could make from zombie films as much as possible.
Selling these rights meant that all of the rights to the IP of "Mr. Zombie" had been transferred out. If Hollywood got their hands on these rights, not only could they remake the movie, but they could also make their own adaptations, make all sorts of sequels, and even refine the characters to create new stories. After selling the rights, Huan Ya himself would never be able to adapt "Mr. Zombie" into any English content.
Other people were trying to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, but Huan Ya was trying to sell off the entire fish pond.
However, the profits from selling off the rights were still very considerable. The Hollywood studios all offered more than six million US dollars, and Huan Ya negotiated with several other film and television companies, and the price had already exceeded ten million US dollars.
When Huan Ya finally reached an agreement with a Hollywood studio to sell the exclusive English remake, adaptation, and sequels of "Mr. Zombie" for twelve million US dollars, the news shocked the entire Hong Kong.
A Hollywood studio was willing to buy the English remake and sequels of "Mr. Zombie" for twelve million US dollars? This was simply a fantasy story! Twelve million US dollars, that was almost a hundred million Hong Kong dollars! Did Hollywood studios have something wrong with their brains?!
The price might seem ridiculously high, but in the eyes of Hollywood companies, it was still very profitable. Now that "Zombie-Master" had become a popular IP in the North American market, if they could get their hands on the remake, adaptation, and sequels, Hollywood companies could make a big deal out of the story structure of this popular IP. They could remake it into a movie, make a new sequel, or make it into a North American-style comic or anime. They could even imitate Marvel and create a new superhero, then make that superhero their own IP.
Marvel's success came from the large number of popular superheroes under its banner. Spider-man was very popular, so was Wolverine. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk were all very popular. Each of these superheroes could support a huge industry chain, from comics to animations, to movies, TV series, merchandise, and image licensing. The profit margin was huge, and the profit cycle was extremely long. A superhero could even allow a company to operate for seventy or eighty years. For example, Captain America was born in the distant year 1941, and it was estimated that he would still be active on the big screen in the year 2041.
What was even more perverted was that when these popular heroes became popular, companies like Marvel could make money without doing anything. They could let all the heroes play their own games, or they could bring them together to create a SHIELD or the Avengers.
Hollywood companies were best at building long-term brands. So, spending twelve million to buy a "superhero" image of Hua Xia, one that already had a strong fan base in the United States, was very cost-effective. As long as they remade the original work and created a transitional sequel of "Mr. Zombie fought against the ultimate zombie and was sealed with the ultimate zombie for nearly a hundred years until the seal was accidentally broken," the image of "Mr. Zombie" could be brought into the modern world and made a big deal out of it.
This setting sounded far-fetched, but there had been a successful precedent, and that was the famous Captain America.
Captain America was frozen for decades, and then resurrected after decades, holding a shield and continuing to work. This setting had been accepted by the general audience. Since Captain America could do it, why couldn't Mr. Zombie?
Moreover, for people in Hollywood, they had countless ways to localize overseas culture. In their opinion, the image of "Zombie-Master" could easily take root in the United States, because there were a lot of ghost legends in the United States, and they were no worse than the ghost legends of Hua Xia. Both Eastern and Western cultures revered ghosts, gods, and supernatural forces. The people of Hua Xia liked to find fortune-tellers and witches to treat their illnesses. Westerners also liked to find fortune-tellers and psychics to solve problems. Now that "Zombie-Master" image and brand of Hua Xia had become popular, a transitional plot would allow him to live in the United States in the 21st century, and then this omnipotent Mr. Zombie from the East could deal with the ghosts and gods in American legends.
If the copyright of this IP was eventually bought by Marvel, it was very likely that the Taoist priest from Hua Xia would be fighting the Nazi zombies with Captain America in the movie. At that time, Captain America would be waving his shield in front of tens of thousands of Nazi zombies, exhausted. When it seemed that he couldn't hold on any longer, the Taoist priest Hua Xia in a yellow Taoist robe would jump out, holding a peach wood sword, and calmly say, "Lin Bing Dou Zhe, march forward in formation", "Taishang Laozi, as urgent as the law". At that time, talismans, hand seals, and formations would be flying all over the place, and the scene would be so beautiful that it was hard to imagine...
It was precisely because they had figured out how to dig deeper into this industry that Hollywood studios were so interested in the remake and adaptation rights of this movie.
When Li Mu heard that Huan Ya was negotiating with Hollywood studios for the overseas rights of "Mr. Zombie", including remakes, adaptations, and sequels, Li Mu had Makino Technology release a statement on YY. The statement was very simple:
Makino Image acknowledges that Huan Ya is the owner of the movie "Mr. Zombie" and its related intellectual property rights. Makino Image is also very pleased that Huan Ya is able to export this intellectual property rights to the world. However, Makino Image would like to give a kind reminder: Although Huan Ya is the owner of the intellectual property rights of "Mr. Zombie," Makino Image is the exclusive owner of the English brand name "Zombie-Master." This English brand name has been registered globally and is protected by global intellectual property rights. We hope that Huan Ya and Hollywood studios will be aware of this.
This statement immediately woke up Huan Ya and Hollywood from their sweet dreams.
"Mr. Zombie" was the copyright of Huan Ya. That's right, Makino Image only had the rights to distribute the movie overseas, but it didn't have the rights to adapt or continue the movie. In other words, if all the countries in the world wanted to release the original version of "Mr. Zombie," then the copyright would have to be negotiated with Makino Image, and it had nothing to do with Huan Ya. However, if all the countries in the world wanted to remake "Mr. Zombie," then the copyright would have to be negotiated with Huan Ya, and Makino Image had no right to interfere.
However, the original English name of "Mr. Zombie" was "Mr. Stiff Corpse," and "Zombie-Master" actually meant "Zombie Master." Moreover, this name was chosen by Makino Image itself. Although it was used on Huan Ya's "Mr. Zombie," it didn't mean that the English version of the name belonged to Huan Ya.
To put it more bluntly, Huan Ya could license the derivative rights of "Mr. Zombie" to any film company in the world, but neither Huan Ya nor these copyright partners had the right to use the name "Zombie-Master."
It was just like how Marvel owned the intellectual property rights of "Captain America," which was protected by the intellectual property laws of the world. If you weren't Marvel, you couldn't use this name. You could call it "Secretary of the American Brigade," "Secretary of the American Party," "Commissar of the American Women," and so on, but not "Captain America."
That was where the lifeline was! What the audience remembered was "Captain America," not any other name besides "Captain America"!
"Zombie-Master" was the same! "Mr. Zombie" was very popular in the United States, but the American audience knew that the name of the movie was "Zombie-Master," and the Taoist priest in the movie was a "Zombie-Master." Suddenly, one day, Hollywood made a movie with the meaning of "Mr. Stiff Corpse." Who the hell knew what that was? It would be strange if the American audience would accept such a stupid name!
Moreover, "Mr. Zombie" had a very, very bad thing for Huan Ya, and that was that the lead actor, Lin Zhengying, Master Lin, had already passed away. Therefore, no matter who made the sequel, there was no way for Master Lin to make an appearance again. In that case, whether Hollywood bought the rights to the movie, or Hollywood made up a new zombie-fighting Taoist priest, there was no way for the audience to be sure that it was a sequel to "Zombie-Master," unless the name of the movie was "Zombie-Master."
Therefore, for a Hollywood company that was willing to spend twelve million US dollars for the rights to "Mr. Zombie," if they couldn't use the brand name "Zombie-Master," how much would the rights to the movie be worth? Even if it was a million, no one would buy it! Because the Hua Xia zombies and the image of the Taoist priest originated from Hua Xia folklore. Folklore didn't have any copyrights.
Therefore, instead of spending a lot of money to buy the rights to "Mr. Zombie" from Huan Ya, it would be better to create a new Taoist priest based on the Hua Xia zombies. Or, they could just go to Makino Image and ask for the rights to use the "Zombie-Master" brand. At least, when the "Zombie-Master" brand was shown, the audience would know what was going on!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
