China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 552 Do you think Wang Shu can do it?

Han Sanping was really surprised when he heard this.

Wang Shu only won an Oscar, but now eight major Hollywood film companies have come to him seeking cooperation.
How favored and optimistic is this?

From this, it can be seen that Wang Shu has established a foothold in Hollywood, and even if he does not make Chinese-language films, he can still be successful in Hollywood.

Thinking of this, I decided that I needed to talk to the higher-ups.

If some people continue to pull him down and make Wang Shu feel uncomfortable, he can just go to Hollywood and never come back.

And Wang Shu is the only prominent figure in mainland commercial films.

It can be seen that Wang Shu's existence has greatly promoted the development of commercial films in mainland China.

If he went to Hollywood, not only would the discourse power of mainland commercial films be controlled by Hong Kong, but there would also be a lack of promotion for the development of commercial films.

It is indeed a huge loss.

It doesn’t mean that without Wang Shu, the domestic entertainment industry will not be able to thrive.

The domestic entertainment industry can continue to function without anyone.

It’s just that the presence of Wang Shu in the domestic entertainment industry has provided a check and balance to the Hong Kong circle moving north.

If there is no Wang Shu, there will be no one available in the mainland, and commercial films will have to rely on the Hong Kong circle.

This is also the reason why Han Sanping has been in contact with Wang Shu to continue collaborating on commercial films.

Not to mention, the cooperation with Wang Shu has not resulted in any loss.

Just take the mainland for example, no one cooperates.

Huayi is a self-contained entity.

I can’t get involved in Zhang Yimou’s movies now.

Looking around, there are no directors in the vast mainland who can make commercial films.

Han Sanping is ambitious and will not stop on the road of making blockbuster movies.

There were only two choices before him, one was to hold the Hong Kong circle, and the other was Wang Shu.

Adults make choices, and he wants them all.

Besides, keeping Wang Shu proves that China Film Group has no shortage of partners, and can also check and balance the Hong Kong circle and compete with it in commercial films.

Wang Shu smiled and said, "Steven Spielberg previously worked with Paramount on a project. Now Steven has gone to Disney, so Paramount wanted to find a new director to direct the project, and then they found me."

After hearing Wang Shu's explanation, Han Sanping was convinced that Paramount did not want to participate in the co-production. He couldn't help but sigh: "You are still the best domestic director. Paramount is looking for you to cooperate."

Paramount is one of the eight major film studios in Hollywood and is internationally renowned.

Although China Film Group is the largest company in mainland China, it is a state-owned enterprise and its nature is different.

Not to mention, on the international stage, China Film is far less famous than Paramount.

Being approached by such a big film company for cooperation clearly shows how powerful Wang Shu is.

Wang Shu smiled and replied, "Boss Han, you are flattering me."

"in the country, I am just a newcomer, and there are many seniors who are better than me."

"Haha." Han Sanping laughed when he heard this and said jokingly, "If you can really maintain this attitude, you will have a bright future."

In the domestic entertainment industry, it has never been the case that whoever has the power can control thunder and lightning.

Only if you understand the ways of the world can you succeed.

Wang Shu was also happy when he heard this.

In his opinion, these words coming out of Han Sanping's mouth were inexplicably funny.

because
Han Sanping became the top executive of China Film Group because he “did not understand” the ways of the world.

According to normal procedures, he would have been able to make further progress after his term ended, but he was marginalized instead.

He is the top leader of China Film Corporation, and many people praise him on the surface, but in fact they have long been resentful of him in their hearts.

As the head of China Film Corporation and the apparent number one boss in the domestic entertainment industry, his term of office ended and he was dismantled right after.

This further demonstrates that domestic entertainment is a place that values ​​human relationships and social skills.

After all, in a society where officials are the most important, the people standing in the front may seem to be in a powerful position, but in fact they are just looking powerful.

The two then chatted about co-production and hung up the phone.

On the other side, Hollywood, across the ocean.

Steven Spielberg is being interviewed by media reporters.

"Steven, have you heard about the news that Paramount is going to join hands with Wang Shu?" the reporter asked.

On February 2 this year, Steven Spielberg officially joined Disney's fairy tale kingdom with DreamWorks, which he founded.

In fact, after DreamWorks announced its departure from Paramount Pictures, it was preparing to start a new business, but it encountered the impact of the financial crisis and the new business was stillborn.

Then, he "transferred" the deal to Universal Pictures, but Universal Pictures announced that it had "broken off the engagement."

DreamWorks, which had failed to achieve its goal, then threw the proposal to Disney, which had always been interested in cooperating with them. After intensive negotiations, the two companies finalized the cooperation.

Starting from 2010, Disney will take charge of the distribution and marketing of DreamWorks films.

Among them, Disney will charge an 2% distribution commission on the profits of six films including "Transformers 8".

In the general environment of Hollywood, the existence of independent filmmakers can be tolerated, but no one can be allowed to touch distribution and theaters.

These two are the reverse scales, whoever touches them will be unable to survive.

Even if Wang Shu makes an independent movie in Hollywood in the future, he will eventually have to find a distribution company to distribute it.

Different issuing companies have different issuing capabilities.

Disney has strong global distribution capabilities.

For example, this time DreamWorks joined hands with Disney, and the contract stipulated that Disney would be responsible for distributing six DreamWorks films within one year starting from 2010.

Since it is stipulated in the contract, Disney cannot go against it and will release the films produced by DreamWorks as usual.

With Disney's global distribution capabilities, as long as DreamWorks' movies are good, the box office will not be low.

In fact, this is also a win-win cooperation.

If DreamWorks were to set up its own business, it would not have the ability to distribute films and would ultimately have to find a distribution company to do so.

However, finding a publishing company to distribute your film may not necessarily be smooth sailing and may very likely encounter many setbacks.

By cooperating with Disney like we are doing now and leveraging Disney's global distribution channels, a movie can easily achieve pretty good box office results.

If the quality of the movie is good, it may even become a big hit.

For Disney, DreamWorks' joining can bring more films to Disney, allowing Disney's underutilized global distribution channels to be fully developed. Disney Chairman Dick Cook directly stated: "Steven has made many of the most popular blockbusters in history, and he will definitely be one of the most important figures in our film industry in the future."

“We are very excited and honored to announce that we will promote and distribute all future live-action films produced by DreamWorks and begin a new partnership with our esteemed colleagues such as Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snyder and the extraordinary creative team at DreamWorks.”

Disney has always wanted to work with DreamWorks. They have global distribution channels, but do not have enough high-quality films to distribute.

The addition of DreamWorks just fills this gap.

In fact, last summer, David Geffen, one of the three bosses of DreamWorks, had already contacted Disney, but Steven Spielberg had personal feelings and failed to sign a contract with Disney.

This year, after DreamWorks suffered a financial crisis after it became an independent company, Steven Spielberg still chose Universal Pictures.

It can be seen that Universal Pictures is his true love.

It’s just that the man has feelings, but I’m not interested.

After being "broken down" by Universal Pictures, he signed a contract with Disney.

However, in terms of results, although DreamWorks enjoyed the benefits of Disney's global distribution capabilities in the early stages of joining Disney, it proved to be a bad move in the later stages.

Because Disney owns Pixar Animation Studios!!!

"I heard about it." Steven Spielberg replied with a smile.

He knew exactly why the reporter asked these questions.

The reporter smiled and said, "I heard that Paramount plans to hand over the film project you were previously in charge of to Wang Shu for directing. What do you think about this? Do you think Wang Shu is capable of doing this job?"

Although Wang Shu is the youngest Oscar-winning director in history, Steven Spielberg is an Oscar-winning director who has long been internationally renowned.

"Schindler's List" not only won him the 66th Academy Award for Best Director, but also won the Best Picture Award.

At the 71st Academy Awards, he won another Oscar for Best Director for his film "Saving Private Ryan".

Although the film "Saving Private Ryan" is not very artistic, the two Oscars for Best Director are real.

In addition, in addition to these two Oscar-winning films, he also has many other well-known films such as "Jaws", "Indiana Jones", "ET the Extra-Terrestrial", and "Jurassic Park".

This old man has both status and qualifications in Hollywood.

He just smiled and said, "That project has nothing to do with me anymore. It's up to Paramount to decide who will direct it."

"However, the project involves a lot of professional knowledge. I don't know whether Wang Shu is competent for it."

The reporter continued calmly, "Steven, I heard that you have been preparing for this project for three or four years, right?"

Steven Spielberg nodded: "It is indeed that long."

"Are you willing to just hand it over to others like this?" the reporter began to add fuel to the fire.

Steven Spielberg smiled calmly and said, "First of all, I did prepare for this project for three or four years, but I was just involved in it."

"Secondly, the ownership of the project belongs to Paramount."

“So, this is not a question of whether I am willing or not.”

The reporter grinned and asked, "Steven, so... this is Paramount's revenge, right?"

What this means is that Steven Spielberg left Paramount and Paramount stopped cooperating with him.

Upon hearing this, Steven Spielberg pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Why do you ask that?"

“Now DreamWorks is working with Disney and we have a contract.”

This statement does not express Paramount's revenge, but a contract issue.

It is said that business is not about business, but about benevolence and righteousness.

Paramount has nothing better to do than to cut off all ties with Steven Spielberg, such a big director.

Everything is in accordance with the contract.

Besides, when Steven Spielberg chose to leave Paramount, Paramount tried to retain him, but failed.

As for his departure from Paramount, the conflict stems from differences between the two sides on film projects, especially the adaptation of "The Adventures of Tintin".

Steven Spielberg wanted to have greater control over the film, but Paramount disagreed. Coupled with issues such as production funding, the two sides eventually parted ways.

Although Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks parted ways with Paramount, in fact, the period when Steven Spielberg cooperated with Paramount was the period when DreamWorks produced the most.

Then turned to Disney, and DreamWorks went out of business within a few years.

Originally, DreamWorks and Pixar were evenly matched, but after this wave of turmoil, DreamWorks was soon crushed by Pixar.

However, this also shows that even if the major Hollywood studios part ways with the director, they are unwilling to give the director the power to change the script.

The directors you work with either follow the script throughout the filming or refuse to cooperate.

Only a few directors have certain rights to make changes to the script.

From this we can see that Wang Shu's request to Paramount staff to create the script according to his ideas was indeed a very important condition.

To put it bluntly, this requirement is the right to change the script.

He had no idea whether Paramount would agree.

The reporter smiled when he heard this and then said, "Steven, if Paramount really chooses to give this project to Wang Shu to direct, do you think he can do it well?"

Steven Spielberg smiled and continued: "Didn't I just say that? This project involves a lot of professional knowledge, and I don't know him very well. I don't know if it can be filmed well."

This statement seems to be expressing ignorance, but in fact the most crucial point is that it involves a lot of professional knowledge.

As we all know, Wang Shu is not an academician and does not have a high level of academic qualifications.

so.
"Does it involve professional knowledge?" The reporter hesitated for a moment, then said, "If that's the case, Wang Shu can hire professionals to assist him, and this will solve the problem."

The fact is that even academic directors are at a loss when it comes to the professional knowledge involved in science fiction films, and they will hire professionals as consultants.

Steven Spielberg smiled and said, "That's why I said I don't know whether it can be filmed well or not."

The reporter then asked, "Steven, many people say that Wang Shu is also a director who is good at science fiction movies. What do you think?"

Steven Spielberg laughed and said, "Maybe? Like I said, I don't know him, so I don't know."

In fact, he has seen science fiction films directed by Wang Shu, and can only say that they are mostly about ingenuity rather than hard science fiction.

The project he was preparing was more about hard science fiction than ingenuity.

Although Nolan's version of "Interstellar" also has "metaphysics" in the end.

But, this is Nolan's version, not Steven Spielberg's.

Therefore, Steven Spielberg actually did not think that Wang Shu was capable of handling this project.

Just because Wang Shu was a new Oscar-winning director and the youngest Oscar-winning director in history, he saved some face and did not speak directly.

(End of this chapter)