Entertainment tycoon who started out as a director

Chapter 96: Poaching with a hoe
Li Eucalyptus.

After being knocked out of Hollywood twice.

After returning to Wanwan, he made a pure Chinese film.

Of course, it is a Chinese-language film with a Western core. Even the script was written in English first and then translated into Chinese.

But no matter what, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which received ten Oscar nominations this year, is a favorite on the Oscars night held on March 3 this year.

Second only to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator"'s twelve nominations.

In the end, he did not follow the footsteps of "The Shawshank Redemption", which also received ten nominations and received zero mentions.

Won the Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Art Direction.

And a very important award for Best Foreign Language Film.

This time, the international chapter just applauded below and did not follow the director on stage to accept the award.

Li Yu on the stage looked at the note in his hand with a bright face and read his acceptance speech.

This dildo director has returned to Hollywood again!

Coupled with the box office performance of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in North America, it immediately attracted the attention of Universal Company, which was preparing to include Li Eucalyptus in the list of directors for the US$1.3 million blockbuster "The Incredible Hulk".

If Hollywood is just surprised that Li Yu can come back, this is a storm for the entire Chinese film circle!

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" actually won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film as a Chinese-language film!

This is the first Oscar for a Chinese-language film for Best Foreign Language Film.

Gu Ming's "Taken" proved that Chinese-language films can sell at the box office in North America.

The North American box office of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to date is US$1.05 million, proving that Chinese films can not only win box office, but also win Oscars.

For a time, all the major domestic directors were moved.

Especially Zhang Yimou!
Looking at the photo of Li Yu holding the Oscar trophy in the newspaper.

The words "entering North America" ​​and "going to Austria" suddenly came to his mind.

I watched helplessly as two Chinese-language filmmakers made over [-] million in box office in North America.

I also watched Li Yu win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

It's a lie to say no.

He has already won too many awards from Europe's three major awards.

In fact, they were all a little numb.

But for the Oscars, he was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film with "Ju Dou" and "Raise the Red Lantern", but he failed to win even once.

This time, Li Yu inspired his ambition again.

And it made him feel like he had found a good way.

“What belongs to the nation belongs to the world!”

Zhang Yimou looked at Zhang Weiping on the side and said in a calm voice, ""Hurricane Rescue" is an action movie, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a martial arts movie."

"It shows that Americans like to watch kung fu."

"I want to make a costume martial arts movie!"

"Okay!" Zhang Weiping had long been envious of Gu Ming's lucrative profits, and slapped her thigh, "What are you shooting for? I still have some money in my hand, and I can come up with 300 million US dollars."

Even the extremely thick-skinned Zhang Weiping was embarrassed to say this.

"Taken" cost $1500 million to produce.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" also reported a production cost of US$1500 million.

300 million is not enough for Li Lianlian's salary, and now even Zhou Runfu's salary is probably not enough.

Not to mention Jackie Chan, it’s only a fraction.

But if the three of them are not the protagonists, can the film still be sold in North America?

"Ah! Lao Zhang, I'm sorry for you!"

Is it true that you don’t know how to cry when you are poor? Could it be that you only learned how to cry when you are poor and not give Zhang Yimou the director’s fee when you are rich?

Zhang Weiping immediately activated his skills.

"I can only spend up to 300 million US dollars, but we can give it a try. We can't ask those rich people to raise money. Nowadays, rich people still like to invest in movies."

"By the way, do you have a story in your head?"

"I only have one idea for the moment. I am going to adapt the story of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin into a martial arts film, and then incorporate some ideas into it..." Zhang Yimou said while gesturing, "As for the protagonist, I hope it will be Takakura Ken."

In fact, he also wanted to use Li Lianlian.

But Zhang Weiping said that since he had no money, he had no choice but to downgrade the protagonist he needed by several levels.

At this time, he did not expect that the production cost of this film about Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin would reach 3000 million US dollars, which was a zero added to the original cost.

……

the other side.

Preparatory work for the "Green Book" has reached an advanced stage.

While eating with Cao Yu and Kang Xiaotian, Cao Yu couldn't help but smacked his lips, "Awesome! It actually won the best foreign language film."

As he said these words, his mind was completely thinking about Bao Dexi who won the best photography.

When will I win the Oscar for Best Cinematography?
Even a nomination would be great!
Kang Xiaotian noticed something unusual, "Hey, Lao Gu, why aren't you surprised at all?"

"Why am I surprised!"

Gu Ming shrugged, "Li Yu seems to be quite good at winning awards. The two previous films were more about commercial films. Making an artistic film is in line with his strengths."

There was something Gu Ming didn't say.

Li Yu is a very evil person.

It perfectly fits the idiom "up and down".

This "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" hit again, and then "Brokeback Mountain" came up again.

It's like an electrocardiogram.

It's so tenacious that people are speechless.

"That's true." Kang Xiaotian nodded thoughtfully.

Li Yu won the Oscar, but Gu Ming just said oh, saying he had read it, and continued to invest in the preparations.

But the next phone call from Li Xiaoping made Gu Ming unable to sit still.

She said two things.

Daystar's distribution license has been approved.

Since then, Daystar has also had crucial distribution capabilities in the film and television industry.Gu Ming immediately decided to form a subsidiary company, Daystar Publishing Company.

Another thing is that there is news from Zhang Yimou that he is also going to make a costume kung fu movie.

The production cost is US$300 million, and it is planned to star Takakura Ken.

“Is ‘Heroes’ coming?”

Gu Ming had no disturbance in his heart.

But the next second, an idea appeared in Gu Ming's mind.

Zhang Yimou obviously wanted to imitate "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" when making a period martial arts film like "Hero" to win the Olympics.

In his previous life, it was Jiang Zhiqiang who raised a lot of money after learning the news, which made "Hero" such a grand event.

Jiang Zhiqiang is probably still attending various parties now, right?
It just so happened that Daystar had dollars in his hand and didn’t know how to spend them.

The foreign copyright of "Hurricane Rescue" was distributed for 2300 million, and "Blue and Red" earned another 500 million.

Even if you have to pay taxes, you still have $2000 million on hand.

The box office share of "Hurricane" in the three places across the Taiwan Strait is at least 6000 to [-] million yuan.

rich!

She has the confidence to hook up with the director.

Moreover, if "Hero" is operated well, it can recover the cost and make another profit.

thought here.

Gu Ming decided not to leave this opportunity to Zhang Weiping.

Take this opportunity to win over the generals in the northwest circle.

Immediately handed over the remaining preparation work to another producer, Miller.

And he took a plane back to the capital.

After returning home, he immediately found Gu Changwei and asked him to make an appointment with Zhang Yimou alone.

Why be alone?
First of all, what a "Hero" needs is Zhang Yimou, and Zhang Weiping is completely dispensable. In the previous life, I didn't see what kind of waves Zhang Weiping could make after leaving Zhang Yimou.

Secondly, Gu Ming really didn’t want to do any NTR.

I don’t want to give Zhang Weiping a current witness, lest Zhang Weiping can’t accept it.

After all, not everyone has some weird hobbies.

……

Hotel box.

Gu Ming once again met Zhang Yimou, a fellow who looked like a terracotta warrior.

"Old Zhang!"

"Gu Ming." Zhang Yimou looked a little reserved. When they met, he didn't rush to ask what Gu Ming wanted to do with him. The two of them talked more about Gu Ming's movies.

Especially Taken and Green Book.

It can be seen that he is still very excited about the North American market and the Oscars.

Gu Ming was determined.

After chatting for a while, Tu Qiongdeng said, "Lao Zhang, I heard that you are going to make a martial arts movie?"

"Yeah." Of course Zhang Yimou knew Gu Ming's intention of looking for him, and shook his head with a wry smile, "It's difficult to invest. Weiping has already taken care of all the investments. He doesn't like others to invest in my movies."

"Ha ha……"

Gu Ming waved his hand.

"Sometimes it's not just about wrapping a circle that makes it a round shape."

"Reality has to be taken into account."

"If you want to enter the North American market, you must have actors with international box office appeal."

At this point, after letting Zhang Yimou think about it for a while, Gu Ming spoke again. As soon as he started speaking, he gave Zhang Yimou a big job, "Do you want Li Lianjie?"

Zhang Yimou was immediately shocked and speechless.

After a few seconds of pause, he hesitated.

"His salary..."

"Don't worry, we at Daystar can invest US$500 million, and we can also bring in China Film and Television, and even Sony Columbia can also invest in it!"

In the past, we were unable to share any revenue sharing with Sony Columbia in North America because we were afraid that the other party would kill the goose that laid the goose to lay eggs.

But now that you have the carrot of a sequel to "Taken," it's a different story.

Considering that you have greater interests at hand, even in Hollywood, eating and appearance will look better.

No one will kill their business.

The profit sharing of the protagonists of "Harry Potter" was also because the movie was the final chapter, and the protagonists had grown up and no longer needed to collaborate on "Harry Potter" in the future.

For those who are valuable, normal cooperation is not impossible.

Of course, pulling out Sony was because of another thing.

"They are interested in investing in Chinese martial arts films. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has investment from their Sony Classics, and its distribution in North America is also handled by Sony."

"And don't worry, I won't interfere with your creation."

Gu Ming threw out the conditions one by one.

"I……"

Zhang Yimou was moved, but maybe experience determines his character. All experiences made him more cautious.

Not used to change either.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been dragged down to that level by the paycheck in my previous life.

The five films starting from "Hero" only received 100 million in director fees, with an average of 200 million per film.

Looking at Feng's pants at that time, the gap was shockingly large.

"By the way, your director's fee should be in line with your status. I can give you 500 million yuan."

Seeing that Zhang Yimou was still hesitating, Gu Ming took out the Wang Zha.

Zhang Yimou's heart trembled when he heard this.

500 million for a movie!
How much money did he make for directing so many movies?
He may not care about money, but thinking about the child who is about to be born, father's love still prevails. Zhang Yimou gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! I'll go back and tell Wei Ping that we will jointly produce this film!"

(End of this chapter)