National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1279: Counterattack with an Army

On May 1987, 5, the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana appeared on the red carpet hand in hand.

The arrival of the British royal couple brought the red carpet event to a climax.

Especially Princess Diana, who appeared on the Cannes red carpet wearing a Catherine Walker aqua blue chiffon strapless dress, which was fresh and elegant, with long laces draped behind her, adding a sense of softness.

She is extremely popular and received cheers from many media and the public at the scene.

In fact, she outshone not only all the stars present, but also her husband.

Charles, on the other hand, is like a bodyguard to his wife, with no sense of presence at all.

He even looked extremely unhappy because the limelight was stolen.

As for being one of the guests who witnessed the event in person and walked on the red carpet after the popular British royal couple arrived.

In fact, when Ning Weimin saw this scene, he felt extremely complicated while standing on the red carpet.

First of all, no one can "tell fortunes" like him.

Only he knew that Princess Diana, who was so brilliant today, actually only had about ten years left to live.

Moreover, the myth of the love between this royal couple who are in harmony but not in harmony will be shattered, letting the world know that there is actually no fairy-tale happiness in this world.

For this reason, he had an extremely wonderful feeling when he witnessed history with his own eyes and participated in the process personally.

But as an Oriental, I still can't help feeling a sense of sadness in my heart, "People have joys and sorrows, separations and reunions; the moon waxes and wanes; it is impossible to have everything in life."

On the other hand, Ning Weimin was the first citizen of the Republic to walk on the red carpet in Cannes. Not only was he accompanied by his beautiful wife Qingzi, but he was also accompanied by his elder brother Alain Delon, who took Rosalie's hand and took care of her and supported her, which made him feel deeply moved.

The four of them appeared together on the red carpet at the film festival's opening ceremony that day.

Alain Delon took the lead and walked Rosalie onto the red carpet, once again showing his superstar aura.

In addition to waving to the onlookers, Alain Delon also paid special attention to the couple behind him.

When he stopped, he would always kindly push Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko in front of him so that they could have a better position for taking pictures.

Especially after walking the red carpet and standing on the steps of the Palais des Festivals, Alain Delon let go of Rosalie's hand, and took the initiative to hold the hands of Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, one on the left and one on the right, and danced to everyone.

To a certain extent, this was a straightforward way of telling the public that these two Orientals were his good friends.

Therefore, with Alain Delon's deliberate efforts, this red carpet trip attracted special attention from European and American filmmakers and global media. The flashing of flash lights was like an ocean, making the four of them receive the highest courtesy in front of the media, second only to the members of the British royal family.

This can be considered as Alain Delon helping Ning Weimin create a new history.

He felt quite proud of it, thinking that he could add a small footnote to his life achievements.

And it's interesting to say that although the people were shouting Alain Delon's name throughout the event and had indifferent reactions to the Japanese actress and Ning Weimin who were not familiar to them, the problem is that the media's feelings were really different from those of ordinary people.

You know, journalists are the most sensitive group and are best at discovering behind-the-scenes stories.

There can be waves even without wind, let alone such a clear direction given by Alain Delon.

In particular, some reporters who are familiar with the Japanese film industry and media from Japan recognized Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, the couple who had recently attracted much attention in Japan.

At this time, I realized that these two people came to Cannes without saying a word.

Moreover, he broke away from other Japanese filmmakers and chose to appear on the red carpet with French stars.

So these reporters would definitely take good pictures of this scene, send the photos back to Japan, and then use their imagination to write about it in detail.

A chain reaction of flashbulbs was inevitable.

As a result, this move immediately angered some European and American journalists.

There are always some people who have particularly flexible minds and clear thinking.

I thought it would just be a waste of film, so I might as well take a picture first.

Don't wait until you really dig up some incredible news and find out who the person is. Then you won't be able to use the photos, and that would be the end of you.

As a result, many more people followed and raised their cameras.

And as luck would have it, it happened at this very moment.

The most surprising thing was that David Bailey, the official photographer of the British royal family, actually took the lead and rushed to the front, taking pictures of the four people.

His reaction triggered endless associations among many media outlets, leaving all reporters without any worries.

This is David Bailey. There is no reporter who doesn't know this guy, and everyone knows that he has very high vision.

At this year's Cannes Film Festival, apart from members of the British royal family and Catherine Dephner who appeared earlier, no one else caught his eye.

Well, what did his actions indicate? Who were these two Orientals?

Well, as their minds expanded and became more sophisticated, all the reporters were going crazy at this point.

No one knew that David Bailey only promised to compensate them with his professional skills today because of a chance encounter with Ning Weimin and his wife on the beach, and because he lost a card game in his ex-wife's small salon yesterday.

This created a frenzy of flash cameras, as if their identities were so valuable and Cannes welcomed them so much.

Many guests were also dumbfounded. No one dared to underestimate these two Orientals. They were all secretly guessing their identities, and many even couldn't help but activate their own information channels to inquire.

In this way, it can be said that it was a lot of coincidences that caused the sensational effect of Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko's appearance. Thinking about it afterwards, it was enough to make Ning Weimin happy for a few days.

But no matter what, whether it was an accident or unintentional, it doesn’t really matter.

What is worth affirming is that Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko's appearance in Cannes was very effective, and the popularity was well worth it.

It was a bit like the wedding of the Queen of England's granddaughter that a certain Liu Daheng attended with his wife. It didn't cost much, but it was extremely powerful.

At the dinner that day, Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko successfully attracted the attention of many celebrities present. They not only talked with many people with high status in the French cultural circle, such as the French Minister of Culture and the Cannes Film Festival's selection director.

They even succeeded in arousing the curiosity of the Prince and Queen of Wales, otherwise their military attaché would not have come over to chat with them during the dinner and spent more than ten minutes.

These factors, coupled with the fact that people temporarily hired by Ning Weimin were handing out flyers for the screening of "Li Xianglan" at the gate of the Festival Palace.

This film, which was not well-promoted and did not even appear in the manual list, actually received quite a bit of attention.

Three days later, during the impromptu screening, both the morning and afternoon sessions were full.

They themselves also appeared in the main content of Japanese domestic entertainment news and local reports in Cannes.

The attention and treatment he received even surpassed that of Rentaro Mikuni, who submitted two films as formal entries and had a high chance of winning an award in Japan.

This is really an anomaly, and I don't know if it should be called "unfair victory".

But no matter what Matsumoto Keiko's Japanese colleagues think, it doesn't matter whether Mikuni Rentaro minds or not.

At least the sales of the video and soundtrack of "Li Xianglan" in Asia increased significantly because of this incident, which is a real thing. In addition, he had a good chat with the French, and Ning Weimin felt that he had initially mastered the tricks of operating the Cannes awards, which would be very beneficial for him to send "Crazy Rich Asians" to compete for awards next year.

Is there anything more affordable than this benefit?

So Ning Weimin didn't care. He couldn't always seek perfection in everything. He had to be thick-skinned when necessary.

Of course, after all, Eastern and Western cultures are different, and Europeans also have their own unique artistic preferences.

"Li Xianglan" is an oriental story that expresses anti-war sentiment through the life experience of a female star. However, the viewing pleasure of this film is naturally greatly reduced due to the lack of understanding of history and characters among Europeans.

Therefore, it is quite regrettable that European film producers are generally not optimistic about this film, have little desire to purchase it, and offer low bids.

Although the big scenes in the movie are close to epic level and quite shocking, only five film producers made bids in total.

Moreover, they made exorbitant demands, demanding to buy out the local screening rights and the distribution rights of the videotapes and soundtracks.

Specifically, France's World Television Film Company offered 350,000 francs.

The Italian Medusa was offered at 90 million lire.

Constantin Film Company in West Germany offered 120,000 West German marks.

The most stingy people were the Americans. A representative from Columbia Pictures was only willing to give 40,000 US dollars.

As for the most sincere one, it would be the French Ingolstadt Films.

Perhaps for the sake of Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve's face, or perhaps because of the production cost of the film, producer Pierre Edelman offered a "high price" of 550,000 francs.

But that's all. This price is a joke. Each one is only a few hundred thousand RMB, which is far from the expectations of Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, and even lower than the price that Akira Okamoto sold to the Philippines.

That’s still one million, and that’s only for the screening rights.

So if they were to talk purely about business, they wouldn't want to sell to any one store, and they wouldn't even need a booth.

Obviously, if European film producers all think this way, there is no point in spending money on publicity.

But the problem is that Ning Weimin is Ning Weimin.

He had a foundation in business from his previous life, and the skills he learned from Kang Shude in this life, so his business ideas had long been broadened.

He can not only look at problems from a high position but also look to the future, and his means of asking for prices are endless.

First of all, whether buying or selling, Ning Weimin habitually likes to test the price in reverse.

If the other party's quotation is too unreliable, he can just use the other party's words to slap the other party in the face.

Secondly, due to his full understanding of the future world, Ning Weimin also knows that some things that do not seem to have much value today may have promising business prospects in the future.

For example, things like film libraries are like antiques, they become more valuable as time goes by, but they are not valued nowadays.

Nowadays, no matter which country, the most profitable time for a movie is when it is first made, then the video tapes can make another wave of money, and after that the only way to make a little money is to rent it to TV stations for broadcasting.

Films that have little influence, as well as old films shot in the early years, are basically destined to be stored in warehouses and gather dust.

No one understands how amazingly profitable these copies can be in the Internet age.

Apart from Disney, it seems that not many people understand the importance of IP, how to play with IP, and how huge economic returns can be obtained from it.

So copyrights are extremely cheap these days, especially for European films.

If for no other reason, it is because there are not only many countries in Europe, but they are all small, and the film market is also small.

Each country also has its own film company, and in order to maintain the glory of the place where film originated and to compete for cultural discourse power, they invest in and produce new films every year.

But if converted into RMB, most of the films produced are small-scale movies with a budget of between two million and five million. Their production costs are not higher than those of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, and are barely higher than those of India's Bollywood.

Movies with large investments often require film companies from several countries to work together to produce them, like "Zorro" and "A Man's Ambition".

So one can imagine the relationship between the number, market, stars and price of European films.

As long as Ning Weimin roughly inquired about the market situation, he was so happy that he burst into laughter.

Because even for Alain Delon's films, such as "The Lost Tomb" which helped him become famous in the early days, and "Zorro" which later became a global hit, these high-quality film classics only cost 500,000 francs to buy out the Asian copyright.

You must pay attention that it is a permanent buyout. After all, the most recent movie was from more than ten years ago, and even TV stations in Europe are unwilling to spend money to broadcast it.

  So for the film production company, every penny they can sell is a penny they make for free, so why not do it?

It was precisely because of this that Ning Weimin suddenly had a new idea when making the final decision. He simply invited representatives from the two French film companies to discuss the matter.

"Gentlemen, I have a new suggestion that I would like to discuss with you. If either of you is willing to spend three million francs to buy our Fog Studio's film "Li Xianglan" and screen it simultaneously in several major cities in France, such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, and Nice, for three weeks, and guarantee that the number of screens is no less than 150, then we are also willing to pay to buy all the films produced in your film library so far, and we can also maintain long-term cooperation in the future. What do you think?"

Needless to say, his sudden words not only stunned Alain Delon and Keiko Matsumoto, but also made the heads of the two French production companies laugh.

"What? Three million francs! Guaranteed to be shown in five major cities! And it will last for three weeks! Are you kidding me, young man?"

"Haha, 150 screens? No, no, there won't be that many audiences willing to buy tickets to watch the movie. Not only will we lose a lot of money, but we will also lose face because the theater is too unpopular!"

They seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world.

But Ning Weimin still said patiently and seriously, "If there are too few viewers, you can buy tickets and give them to others. I don't require you to show this movie all day long. One show in the morning and one show in the afternoon will do. I just want the news effect brought by these terms and prices to facilitate us to continue to expand the influence of this movie in the Asian market. Besides, didn't you hear my additional conditions? I will use a huge amount of money to exchange your useless copies, those outdated movies that not many people in Europe and America are willing to buy tickets to watch. The funds for your new movies in the next few years will be solved at once. And I will help you promote it in the Asian market. Whether it is for your country's film actors or your company, it will bring a publicity effect of increasing fame, and it will definitely be more conducive to your country and your company's new films to open up the Asian market. Isn't this enough?"

It has to be said that both Ning Weimin's attitude and his proposal are quite convincing.

After he finished speaking, the heads of the two French production companies looked at each other for a while and then calmed down.

"Are you serious? Our Inougana Film Company has probably produced thousands of films in total. Even with the discounts, it would cost two or three hundred million francs. Are you sure you are not kidding?"

"Yes, young man. Besides, our World Television Film Company has not only movies but also TV series in its library. Do you want only the movies or all of them? If you really have such a big appetite, our offer would probably be at least 400 to 500 million francs..."

Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin actually laughed and gave a very straightforward answer.

"I never joke when I'm talking about serious matters. Of course I'm serious. I don't mind TV series. If you want to sell them, whether they are movies or TV series, or even cartoons or documentaries, as long as they are finished films, I'm willing to buy them all."

But he just raised his eyebrows and then "turned the tables", making the representatives of the two production companies feel overwhelmed.

"But I also have a question. If we start discussing the specific price and terms of the agreement now, are you two sure that you can make the final decision for your company for such a large business?"

"Ahem, wait a moment, I have to make a phone call..."

"Oh, sorry, I have to excuse myself for a moment..."

Just as the representatives of the two film studios could no longer withstand the pressure and left the meeting in a hurry and a bit inappropriately.

The look in Alain Delon's eyes when he looked at Ning Weimin had completely turned into one of disbelief and confusion.

Although he tried his best to restrain himself, he could hardly control his scream.

"My friend, are you serious? Do you have so much money?"