China Entertainment's Standout

Chapter 743: The Dominance of the Company, Naza's Progress

"Zhou, many people don't understand art. This most romantic love film is viewed with tinted glasses just because it has a hint of eroticism."

Bob deeply agreed with Zhou Yutang's statement and regarded him as a close friend.

There was a hint of regret in his expression: "Including Sam."

——For the producers, this series of projects is like a goose that lays golden eggs, and they must hold it firmly in their hands no matter what.

But for director Sam Taylor-Johnson, who is careful about her reputation in the industry and out of considerations of her career development, she declined the invitation to the sequel.

Even adding money doesn't work.

She didn't agree, but it didn't matter. Hollywood is so big, there will always be someone to take over.

Before Zhou Yutang's trip abroad, Natalie and Zou Zhongyan had already found suitable candidates in advance.

Director James Foley was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in the 1980s.

Later, he starred in several movies and entered the American TV series circle. In recent years, he directed 12 episodes of the Netflix series "House of Cards" and also participated in the directing of some episodes of "Hannibal" and "Wonderful Pines".

There is nothing wrong with his ability, and what's more important is that he is open-minded.

Black and red are also red.

Including several leading actors in the previous work, everyone has a similar attitude. As long as the money is paid, everyone can devote themselves to art.

"The production cost of the sequel will increase by about 20% compared to the previous one."

"That makes sense."

Zhou Yutang thought about it and quickly made a decision.

Until it was released, probably no one thought that "Fifty Shades of Grey" would be a box office hit.

Therefore, the pay for the leading actors in the previous films was not expensive. Now he is making a lot of money, and the actors who have dedicated themselves to art should also have a taste of the broth.

This time, the sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" will be shot back to back.

Bob is very experienced, and Zhou Yutang feels at ease with him as the chief producer.

In fact, many things had already been decided before this meeting, but now they needed the boss's signature and seal to confirm.

The project has been implemented and everyone is in a good mood.

Zhou Yutang was behind the scenes, while Old Bob used his connections to pave the way, accounting for the second largest share.

It was a favorable situation where everyone carried sacks of US dollars.

Interests make the cooperation between the two more solid and reliable.

After finishing the serious business, we started chatting.

After taking the Cuban cigar handed over by Bob, Zhou Yutang sank into the sofa chair and casually placed his legs under the coffee table on the leather footstool.

Speaking of Captain America 3's director Joe Russo, he brought Captain America, the Winter Soldier and others to China to start pre-promotion for the movie.

Zhou Yutang smiled.

Hollywood now attaches great importance to the Chinese box office.

The topic then turned to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Old Bob chuckled and revealed a lot of Warner's inside information.

BVS's cost was approximately 2.6 million, plus 1.5 million in publicity expenses, for a total of 4.1 million US dollars.

In the end, the box office in mainland China only closed at 6.18 million, in North America it only opened at 3.3 million, and globally it opened at 8.7 million.

Hollywood film projects, and other subsequent miscellaneous income.

There is definitely some profit, but not big profit.

——Turning around and looking at Marvel next door which is making a ton of money, for Warner, which has high hopes for this project, it is almost a loss.

If the project fails, someone must be held accountable.

"Zhou, you don't know, we've had several arguments in internal meetings, and we almost got into a fight."

"Later, internal adjustments were made, and now it has been tentatively agreed that Geoff Johns and Jon Berg will jointly lead the new department dedicated to DC movies."

Old Bob suggested earnestly: "Zhou, as a friend, I think you should consider taking over Warner's DC Universe superhero blockbuster. Now is the best opportunity."

With his connections and information channels, it was not difficult for him to find out Warner's plans.

Zack Snyder, who succeeded Nolan, has failed to carry the entire DC universe, so he cannot put all his eggs in this basket.

Finding another way out is the best way.

There are many capable directors in Hollywood, but there are not many directors with the ability of Zhou Yutang.

Not to mention that he has absolute power in the Chinese entertainment industry, he can also call the shots in Hollywood.

All the projects he has handled have never failed.

There is no more suitable candidate than Zhou Yutang.

Warner not only visited Jiangdong three times, but even sent senior executives of the film and television department to China several times to negotiate terms, paint a rosy picture, and promise huge profits.

Zhou Yutang dusted off his cigarette ash and said calmly, "Warner's people will come over tomorrow."

"Wow."

After a moment of shock, Bob stood up, his old eyes shining brightly, and he laughed: "Congratulations, man, you are the next Nolan. No, no, you will be a better director than Nolan."

When Zhou Yutang said this, Old Bob understood and he finally let out a sigh of relief.

In fact, this operation is just like a goddess hooking up with a dog.

Pulling it to the limit will almost make the licker pay the maximum cost.
However, the superhero movie project obviously ranks behind "Joker" in Zhou Yutang's mind.

Zhou Yutang exhaled a puff of white mist from his mouth: "I still have projects to do. Joaquin has already reserved time and started preparing for "Joker". Even if we can reach an agreement tomorrow, we have to wait until next year."

Bob shrugged his shoulders and didn't comment.

Bob sometimes feels helpless about his brilliant partner.

He has a very particular taste.

Whether it's women or film and television projects.

There were many blonde and blue-eyed beauties throwing themselves at him, but Zhou Yutang was too lazy to even look at them. Instead, he preferred ordinary girls like Guli Nazha.

Although Nazha is very convincing in terms of appearance, old Bob feels that her thin figure is a bit lacking.

The selection of film and television projects is also unique.

For example, the current version of the answer, superhero movies, is not as popular in his mind as the art film "Joker".

From copyright to casting, it took several years and Zhou Yutang invested a lot of effort.

Bob didn't quite understand, but geniuses always enjoy many privileges.

Especially Bob, the genius who has led New Line Studios to greatness again, who is now an experienced man, I support him with all my heart.

"The box office of Beijing Meets Seattle: The Unbreakable Love Letter reached 1.2 million on the first day, becoming a dark horse at the box office and continuing the legend of Northern Ireland!"

"The movie 'Xuanzang Master' starring Huang Xiaoming, Xu Zheng and others only grossed 485.6 million on the first day, with no hope of making a profit!"

"The movie "Dream Partners" starring Yao Chen, Wen Yongshan, Hao Lei, Guo Fucheng and others received a box office of 1729 million on the first day!"

"The thriller "The Phantom of the Opera" starring Ruby Lin and Simon Yam earned 1470 million yuan on its first day."

The box office results of several domestic films released during the May Day holiday have just been released, along with the first wave of viewing feedback.

After the premiere in Beijing, Mr. Fan went to Shanghai with Xue Xiaolu, Pan Yueming and other creative teams, and then Hangzhou, Jinling and other first-tier cities were scheduled for roadshow promotion. Zhou Yutang was abroad and also received the first-day box office data forwarded by Mr. Fan.

He was very satisfied with the result.

As I said, it all depends on the opponent's support.

Previously, a movie that had attracted much anticipation in the industry but ended up with a shocking result was "Master Xuanzang", which had an investment of over 100 million yuan and failed at the very beginning.

Huang Xiaoming and Xu Guangtou had no box office appeal at all and became cannon fodder.

This year's May Day movie was dominated by "When Beijing Meets Seattle: The Unbreakable Love Letter".

"Beijing Meets Seattle 2" is certainly not a classic, and there are more or less some problems, but at least the quality and reputation of the film are better than its competitors of the same period.

That's enough.

The entire "Beijing Meets Seattle" series will undoubtedly be a representative work of Mr. Fan's acting career.

It is also Pan Yueming's comeback work after a period of silence, which will be beneficial to the promotion of his next project "Day and Night Chase".

It is also a solid achievement for Xue Xiaolu to become the number one female director in China.

"Have you noticed that every director who has worked with Zhou Yutang seems to have taken off."

This hot post suddenly appeared on the Internet, and people in the industry only then noticed how terrifying the record of Mr. Xue Xiaolu, who usually teaches in a low-key manner at school, in his cooperation with Zhou Yutang was.

He has collaborated with Zhou Yutang on the series "Love Is Not Blind", "Introduction to Architecture", and "Beijing Meets Seattle", all of which are hits.
The most terrifying thing is that Mr. Xue specializes in romance films. The investment cost of each film is not high, but the box office revenue can be at least twenty times more!
A good warrior may not have great achievements. This sentence is very suitable for Teacher Xue.

Many directors in the circle were envious to the point of envying her, including Xu Cainv, the princess of the Beijing circle among the four great beauties.

Ms. Xu is also ambitious.

As one of the four major actresses, she has a clear plan for her career.

She transformed from an actor to a director from the very beginning, and has always coveted the position of the number one female director in the industry.

However, in terms of business performance, he is far behind Xue Xiaolu.

In today's film and television industry, everything is about money.

How did Xue Xiaolu become successful?

Zhou Yutang gave her two projects, "Love Is Not Blind" and "Introduction to Architecture", and good luck helped her rise to the top.

Then came the "Beijing Meets Seattle" series, which Xue Xiaolu wrote and directed, and he really rose to prominence.

Xu Jinglei is very smart. She thinks that if she gets the Jiangdong film and television project, she may not do worse than Xue Xiaolu!
Suddenly, he received a message of good news from Xu Cainv. Although there was no mention of cooperation, Zhou Yutang was very shrewd and could vaguely guess what she was thinking, but he just dealt with it hastily.

With a beauty like Nazha in front of him, how could Governor Zhou have the heart to care about Miss Xu?

"Brother, do you think I look good in this?"

A dark brown suit skirt wrapped around Nazha's slim body, with a white shirt underneath.

It is dignified and elegant, and also bright and beautiful.

In addition, the way she put her hands behind her back, shook her body, and acted coquettishly was enough to completely drain anyone's blood.

In this movie, Nazha’s role is a Chinese female scientist, and this is one of the several looks she wears in the movie.

Zhou Yutang, who was originally sent into Sage Time by Teacher Fan's ultimate move, suddenly felt that the cooling time was almost up, and whispered something in Nazha's ear.

Nazha stretched out her hand coquettishly, pretending to hit him.

The other people in the crew just pretended not to see the flirting and just minded their own business.

——Everyone knows what’s going on with the woman that the big boss wants to promote.

"Hey, Zhou, Mud Howl."

Jason Statham is also a veteran, and he came up to say hello in Chinese with an emphasis on weirdness.

“You speak Chinese well.”

Zhou Yutang smiled and shook hands and hugged Jason Statham.

In our impression, Jason Statham has always been a cool and tough guy, but in reality, he is quite easy to get along with.

At least when filming opposite Nazha, he didn't put on airs at all, but instead helped her a lot.

When the big boss comes to visit the set, coffee, milk tea and the like are naturally indispensable. Ni Ni had prepared them in advance, and now she is taking Xiao Chen with her to arrange their distribution with the crew's staff.

After comforting Nazha a little, Zhou Yutang began to inspect the crew.

The script of this movie was revised several times.

The first step was to merge many characters from the original work, and then change the story line a little.

For example, the country of the original story is Japan, but since it is a Sino-US co-production, the place where the story takes place is naturally changed to China.

After completing the current filming in New Zealand, the crew will move to Sanya, China.

Many scenic spots in Sanya, including Tianya Haijiao and Dadonghai, will appear in the movie.

"Mr. Zhou, in order to make this shark more realistic, we added more gills. Look here."

Kong Sheng's daughter was also in the crew. She excitedly took Zhou Yutang to check the results of the work and explained with gestures: "Here, wounds and scratches were also added to the shark's skin. In terms of dynamic design, it is a behavioral model developed based on the biomechanical principles of various sharks."

It can be seen that she has learned a lot from working with the world's top special effects team.

Zhou Yutang gave a few words of encouragement and then turned to discuss various details with director Joe Detduba.

Apart from a huge shark head model with a bloody mouth that can fit four or five people and is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

In order to truly restore the underwater scene, the crew prepared two large water tanks about 56 meters long and 40 meters wide, the deepest of which can reach 3 meters.

Barry Osborne, producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Great Gatsby, proudly stated that it takes a full six days to fill the water tank.

Chen Xi's report clearly stated that the crew spent a lot of money on this facility.

In order to ensure the comfort and safety of the actors, the water in the water tank is basically heated, and it costs more than $5000 a day just to heat the water temperature.

Money is a small matter.

An investment of 1.5 million is enough to burn through.

It's mainly the actors who suffer.

Zhou Yutang went to the scene to watch and had a deep understanding of it.

Because many scenes were shot underwater, it was very troublesome to coordinate lighting and move the camera.

Moreover, communication between the director and the actors is also a problem.

After each shot, the actors always have to surface, listen to the director's specific requirements, and then continue shooting in the water.

Repeat this process until you pass.

Today we are arranging the underwater shooting scenes.

Even a tough guy like Jason Statham couldn't stand it, but Nazha gritted her teeth and endured it.

Even a man as hard-hearted as Zhou Yutang couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic when he saw Nazha swimming in the water like a mermaid in the camera.

Nazha doesn't just rely on her looks to make a living or act coquettishly to win favor.

Her professional abilities have also improved a lot.

ps: I caught a cold due to the temperature drop, and I feel dizzy and have a sore throat. Please take care of yourself.

(End of this chapter)