Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 433: Let's have some Batman jokes

After the person in charge finished speaking, he felt a little nervous.

In his eyes, his requirements were already quite demanding.

Big directors don’t like having their funding cut, especially when it comes to commercial films, or big superhero directors.

After all, commercial films are not art films. They can use language, emotions, words, and shots to bring a high level of visual enjoyment and emotional resonance.

In superhero movies, more funding means higher-level technology and better visual enjoyment.

For example, the production cost of the last two Batman: The Dark Knight films shot by Nolan a few years ago was 200 million for one and 250 million for the other.

When Zack Snyder took on the big responsibility for the first time and filmed "Man of Steel", the company directly allocated him a production budget of about 250 million yuan.

The production budget of "BVS", which is currently being filmed, is expected to be even higher.

Both Nolan and Zack could get more than 200 million in production funds, but when Zhou Mo was called, the requirement was that it must be less than 200 million.

The difference of 50 million is not a small amount of money.

It is equivalent to 20% of the cost of others.

The person in charge was not sure whether Zhou Mo would be dissatisfied with this.

Aside from the fact that Zhou Mo might feel looked down upon because of playing the drums, he even wondered if Zhou Mo would feel discriminated against because of playing the drums.

A force with extremely strong combat effectiveness is gradually emerging within Warner.

All acts of "discrimination" will be strongly resisted.

The bald person in charge is an old white man and he really doesn't like this stuff.

If the cooperation with Zhou Mo fails and the other party accuses him of "discrimination" later, he is sure that he will suffer considerable losses.

However, what he didn't know was that Zhou Mo was already overjoyed.

Two hundred million dollars in funding.

Still a beautiful knife.

He had never fought such a rich battle.

So far, the most expensive film he has shot is "The Great Wall", which cost more than 200 million yuan.

Soft sister currency.

Suddenly, there was a production cost of 200 million US dollars. Just based on the exchange rate, the difference between the two was more than seven times.

What a strong and powerful mouth!
Of course, Zhou Mo had already noticed that the person in charge in front of him was not emotionally stable.

With a little guesswork, you can roughly guess the reason.

Moreover, Zhou Mo also knew that this guy probably still had room to retreat.

In this case, why not use the CPU a little bit?

After thinking for a while, Zhou Mo said to the bald person in charge: "I can agree to your request for 200 million production costs, but at the same time, I also have requirements."

The bald person in charge felt relieved.

It would be great if you can agree.

Everything else can be discussed.

"Zhou, tell me, what are your conditions? If they are not excessive, I can agree to them now."

Zhou Mo held up a finger: "First, I want a portion of the investment for the movie I made."

The person in charge nodded.

He can agree to this.

Freeing up part of the investment is actually a win-win situation.

It can not only reduce Warner's own burden to a certain extent, but also make Zhou Mo more sad about making the movie.

Working for others and working for yourself have a different mentality and the effort is definitely different.

"Sure, Zhou, we can give you a portion of the investment, but the premise is that you eat up the investment yourself and don't give it to others. Do you have any other requirements?"

Zhou Mo stretched out his second finger: "Second point, I want the final editing rights of the film."

As soon as these words were spoken, the person in charge immediately frowned.

Compared with the investment amount of a film, the final editing rights are undoubtedly much more important.

Some time ago, there was a conflict between Warner and Zack Snyder, and the final editing rights were one of the reasons, and one of the most important reasons.

Zack has a habit when making movies, which is to cut the movies very long.

This length is not ordinary length.

But it's the kind that takes four hours.

Four hours, it's not an epic blockbuster like "The Lord of the Rings", it's just a commercial superhero movie. If it really takes four hours, the audience would have left long ago.

Although Warner's senior management is not very clear about how to make money, they are still very familiar with some basic situations.

But Zack Snyder has always insisted on this matter.

Therefore, the two sides have had more than one conflict because of this incident.

Now, Zhou Mo also made this request, and the bald person in charge became a little panicked.

Once bitten, twice shy.

He was afraid that a situation like Zack's would happen again.

Fortunately, Zhou Mo quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, I have always controlled the duration of my movies very well. Two hours is enough. If it's longer, the audience won't be able to watch it."

When the bald person in charge heard this, he felt like tears welled up in his eyes.

It's so rare to find such a good-talking director. He is simply an angel!
The person in charge promised: "Zhou, understanding is the best. I am willing to go back and fight for the final editing rights for you with the company."

This was a very honest statement, but Zhou Mo was still not satisfied.

He wanted to settle things once and for all to avoid any further complications.

Let’s go back and discuss it again. God knows what will happen?
Zhou Mo said bluntly: "Kevin, if I'm not mistaken, your company proposed to cooperate with me, in fact, it is also because you are interested in the Chinese film market.

In America, except for The Dark Knight trilogy, the gap between DC's superhero movies and Marvel's movies is getting bigger and bigger. But it's been more than a year since The Dark Knight Rises came out. If you want to catch up with Marvel now, it's basically impossible in America. You can only rely on new markets."

The bald person in charge nodded awkwardly after the situation was pointed out to him.

The reason why this was not stated before was naturally to lower the price.

But it was obvious that Zhou Mo had always been aware of the situation and it was impossible to lower the price.

“Yes, Zhou, you are right, our company does hope to enter new markets.”

"So you chose me, hoping that I, the current No. 1 box office in China, can help you introduce DC to the market."

The bald leader let out a long breath and raised his hands high.

"Okay, Zhou, okay, you win, no need to say anything more, I can promise you that the final editing rights of the movie will be given to you."

"very good."

Zhou Mo smiled and stretched out his third finger.

"Then, the next step is the third request."

The person in charge looked bitter: "What else? Zhou, we have already made a lot of concessions."

Zhou Mo smiled and said, "Don't worry, the hardest part is over. My third request is that during the filming process, you can give us your opinions, but you can't interfere with the filming without my permission."

The person in charge said helplessly: "This is not that difficult."

Obviously, Zhou Mo's question is a relatively high requirement.

But he also knew why Zhou Mo did this.

The crew rules in Hollywood and China are different. In Hollywood, the producer is responsible for the production, and the producer's status is higher than that of the director.

Many directors don’t like this and hate having their filming interfered with, but they can’t completely fight against the habits and rules of the entire industry, so they find other ways.

For example, Zack Snyder's film producer is his wife, Deborah Snyder, and he basically controls the crew himself.

As for Zhou Mo, he didn't even intend to take this approach.

Zhou Mo: "I know your concerns, but I can also provide some services for the movie. I will take care of all the promotion in China."

When saying this, Zhou Mo's tone was extremely relaxed.

Anyway, it's a matter of left hand to right hand
The bald person in charge thought about it and finally made the decision.

"Okay, no problem, we agree." He stared at Zhou Mo's palm, worried that he would extend another finger next: "Next, there should be no more, right?"

Zhou Mo smiled and said, "Don't worry, there are no more."

The bald person in charge finally felt relieved. He looked at Zhou Mo and said helplessly, "Zhou, if I knew it would be so difficult to negotiate cooperation with you, I would definitely not come here."

Zhou Mo laughed: "Don't worry, Kevin, you will definitely not regret your decision today in the future."

"hope so."

The discussion ended.

The atmosphere became completely relaxed.

During this period, everyone talked about their understanding of "Batman".

When Nolan made "The Dark Knight", he could actually be said to have used Batman's skin to shoot his own story.

The bald person in charge is mostly a fan of the original novel.

So, when Zhou Mo took out some memories of the "Arkham" series, the person in charge of Fuding was obviously quite excited.

"Zhou, I am now completely certain that you can make a good Batman."

The Dark Knight trio on the side also nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Zhou, your ideas for making Batman are completely different from Nolan's, but the content is equally exciting and should be loved by many fans of the Aid."

When Zhou Mo heard this, he invited the "Sigma Man": "Bell, since you said so, I wonder if you are interested in wearing the bat armor again?"

There is no doubt that Bale's Batman was a success.

Zhou Mo hopes that his future Batman movie will be a box office success, so he will definitely try every possible way to increase the box office.

The sentiment of Beifu is a very good factor.

Bell was quite interested, but after thinking for a moment, he shook his head.

"Sorry Zhou, I am willing to shoot Batman, but I still want to work with Nolan more. I have adapted to his style."

It is obvious that the Sigma man loves Nolan deeply.

Zhou Mo nodded, not really feeling sorry.

Let’s not talk about anything else about Zack, when he made superhero movies, the actors he chose were undoubtedly very outstanding.

Especially Henry's Superman and Ben's Batman, their buttocks and chins actually meet Zhou Mo's requirements for Batman in "Arkham".

As the saying goes, a chin that can't let the music police tell at a glance that Batman is a white man is not a good chin.

In this regard, this bat definitely meets the requirements.

Zhou Mo tried inviting two other actors who played the role of "The Dark Knight", and the results were similar.

(End of this chapter)