Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 499 Emmerich's Response

Warner was very efficient. Zhang Chen gave them three days, but he received a call from David Heyman the next day.

"Zhang, we held a meeting here, and the initial intention formed by everyone is to continue cooperation. Like you, Warner is also very optimistic about the relationship between us.

If you have time, come to my office and we can talk..."

"Of course, I have time this afternoon~"

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen curled his lips.

David Heyman's words were full of confidence, but that's just for show.

The company doesn't care about feelings, it only cares about interests.

David Heyman is not a good man either. It was this guy who tricked the young actors in "Harry Potter".

However, being able to continue cooperating with Warner is indeed a good start. At least the two sides have a basis for cooperation.

If he had just gone to talk to other companies as he said, he would have wasted so much time.

Warner's willingness to continue the talks at least proves that the other party has agreed to the conditions he proposed, at least most of them.

Sure enough, when he met David Heyman in the afternoon, the other party started to argue with him.

About pay, about casting, about editing rights.

"Zhang, 2012 is a disaster movie, and the special effects are more attractive than the stars. I think you know this better than me.

I have no objection to introducing Jack Chen, and the film also needs a big name to support the scene, but I hope you can strictly abide by Hollywood standards and the film salary expenditure should not exceed 35% of the total budget..."

35% is a red line, which is an established rule in Hollywood.

Big productions generally follow this rule.

Of course there are exceptions. For example, in "Rush Hour 3", Jackie Chan's salary was 1500 million US dollars and Tucker's was 2000 million US dollars. The two leading actors alone took 3500 million US dollars, accounting for 25% of the production cost. There were also a series of other miscellaneous supporting roles.

At that time, the production cost of this drama was seriously overspent, and the film remuneration accounted for 40% of the total cost.

The main reason is that the new line is not strong enough.

A lot of unequal treaties were signed, such as Tucker's pay or play agreement, which meant that he had to pay $2000 million regardless of whether the movie was made or not.

In the end, it was indeed a big loss.

Of course Warner wouldn't allow this to happen, so David reminded him.

If Zhang Chen was smart enough, everyone wouldn't have to fall out with each other, otherwise they would have to go through each clause one by one.

"Jack Chen's salary for Rush Hour 3 is 1500 million US dollars + 15% of the box office profit..."

The box office dividend here is the gross profit dividend.

"I think this is a bit too much. Jack Chen does have a certain appeal, but "2012" is a disaster film, not an action film. I think his original salary calculation method is not applicable to us..."

"How much do you think is appropriate?"

"1000 million US dollars + 10% of the box office share..."

The offer made by David Heyman was quite reasonable, and Zhang Chen also felt that it was about the same.

"Okay, I'll go talk to him later."

Zhang Chen is not only the director of "2012", but also the producer of the play, so these things are also issues he needs to consider.

"Where's your director's salary?"

David looked into Zhang Chen's eyes.

"It's the same as Jack Chen's."

"OK."

David Heyman agreed readily and didn't mention anything like sharing of the net profits.

We are all smart people, and saying this again would seem insincere.

And David had no objection to the pay.

Although "Pacific Rim" has not been released yet, it is impossible for him to get $500 million + 8% of the box office share as before.

Warner obviously knows this.

The US$1000 million + 10% share of the box office is because Pacific Rim has not been released. If it had been released and performed well at the box office, the maximum amount would have been 1500 million + 15% share of the box office or 2000 million US dollars + 20% share of the box office.

Anything lower than this is out of the question.

The salary has been negotiated, and there are other candidates for the roles.

"I want to cast Fan Binbin as the female lead. She is the heroine of Pacific Rim and can bring some popularity to our film..."

"OK, OK, Zhang, you are the director, you decide on the cast. As long as it's not an all-Chinese cast, I won't have any objection..."

In this regard, Warner was very generous. Since they gave the main roles to the actors, there was no need to fight for the supporting roles.

Who says foreigners don't know how to behave?

Of course, this is also based on the good cooperation between the two sides during "Pacific Rim".

Then when it came to discussing the final editing rights, David finally made his move.

"Zhang, we can't give you the final editing rights. Sorry, this is not negotiable.

But like Pacific Rim, we can allow you to edit a version first, and if it passes our review, we will try to use your version. "

Hollywood has always attached great importance to the final editing rights. Except for a few top directors such as Spielberg and Cameron, no one else can get the final editing rights.

Zhang Chen is obviously not qualified now.

Zhang Chen also knew that he did not have the capital to fight for it yet, so he finally compromised.

He originally thought that the biggest push would be over the investment ratio, but he didn't expect Warner to have no objection at all.

The big issues have been discussed, and what remains is to work out the details and sign the contract.

However, there are dedicated teams to take care of those.

Everyone now knows that the most important thing at the moment is to race against time.

The most important point about this play is that it was released before the Columbia version.

Warner began to prepare the crew, and Zhang Chen also began to contact the domestic situation, register and file, and at the same time make advance preparations for filming in China.

Apart from anything else, xz's plays may require the cooperation of local governments, and China Film Group will need to help communicate about these.

Zhang Chen even communicated with Industrial Light & Magic in advance, asking them to set aside enough time and manpower to ensure the progress of the "2012" project.

Industrial Light & Magic certainly said that there was no problem and Zhang Chen’s project was definitely the top priority.

It's a big client. This year's "Pacific Rim" signed a special effects contract of 5000 million US dollars, and next year's "2012" is said to be a contract of 7000 million to 8000 million US dollars.

Being able to provide such a large order to Industrial Light & Magic for two consecutive years, we should treat him like a grandfather.

……

Columbia knew the news as soon as Warner Bros. confirmed the project.

"Warner did it on purpose?"

"At the moment, it's very likely. It's no secret in the industry that we're working with Emmerich on a doomsday disaster film..."

Colombia has been suppressed since it was sold to Japan.

Otherwise, Asian films would not be introduced on a large scale.

This is not the first time that it has been targeted by the other five.

"They are moving very quickly. I heard they have already started preparing the crew~"

"Any more information?"

"The director seems to be a Chinese, the director of the previous "Taken"..."

"Haha, what are they thinking? They actually want to use an action movie director to confront Emmerich head-on. Don't they know who Emmerich is?"

Columbia's top brass clearly has confidence in Emmerich.

Also normal.

Do you believe that any random director can beat Cameron in making a science fiction film?
Roland Emmerich is the God of Cards in the field of disaster films.

"Damn it, these guys must be trying to release it before us..."

Columbia executives immediately guessed Warner's intentions.

It's not hard to guess.

But he was powerless and could not stop this.

Because he can't be the master of Roland Emmerich.

Emmerich does things at his own pace and refuses to be told what to do by Columbia.

"Inform Roland that someone wants to compete with him head-on. I hope he will be more nervous..."

Columbia could only do this much. No matter how much more they asked for, Roland would ignore them. Roland Emmerich was quite surprised when he received the reminder from Columbia.

Is Warner also preparing a disaster film with a similar theme?
He immediately became interested.

What is the name of the script they have on file?
"2012"?
Emmerich went to the Writers Guild and looked through the filed scripts.

At first, nothing spectacular: the White House was flooded, the Golden Gate Bridge was destroyed, the Hoover Dam collapsed, and Hollywood landmarks disappeared...

These shots are standard in almost all disaster films. Roland had seen them in his previous films, but he didn't think anything of it.

Then I saw the Yellowstone volcano eruption and the Los Angeles earthquake, and I was so surprised that I couldn't close my mouth.

This……

How come the story is exactly the same as I expected.

Roland's first reaction was that his idea had been plagiarized.

But he hadn't told anyone the outline of the story, not even Columbia.

With doubt in his heart, Roland continued to read on, and then he saw the storyboard.

Yes, Zhang Chen also provided a storyboard in the filing materials, the main theme of which was to take other people's paths and leave them with no way to go.

A storyboard is a visualization of an idea.

The ideas can be the same, but the storyboards can never be the same.

At this moment, Roland just wanted to pat his thigh.

Damn, this person is simply my confidant.

How did he come up with these shots?

There is a scene during the Los Angeles earthquake where the protagonist is driving a car to escape, and the building in front of him collapses, leaving him with no way to go.

The protagonist drove the car directly through the collapsed building and escaped from the building just before being submerged.

The pressure is too strong~
If you are one second late, you will be submerged by the building.
I have similar thoughts, but they are not as specific as the other party's.

Another shot is the protagonist and his group flying a plane, looking down from the air, where the ground plates at the seaside are lifted up and slowly sliding into the sea.

This perspective is so shocking.

Roland couldn't let it go, but at the same time he felt a little frustrated.

Roland had similar ideas for many scenes in the other party's script, but he hadn't thought them through yet.

After seeing Zhang Chen’s storyboard, I suddenly felt enlightened.

If the two of them were not working on the same subject matter, Roland would have wanted to recruit this guy named Zhang Chen to be his creative director.

Of course, this is impossible.

However, the other party's script is so detailed that I am afraid I will have to make changes in many places.

Inside Columbia, a meeting is taking place.

This time there is also Fox.

"I just received a notice from Roland Emmerich that his script needs to be revised. Currently, there are a lot of plots in his script that are similar to the Warner project, so it must be revised..."

In this regard, no one suspected that Warner had plagiarized.

As they are all among the top six, plagiarism is fine for bullying small companies, but it is simply giving them a handle to use against rivals of the same level.

No one would be so stupid.

So, everyone naturally thought it was a car crash.

After all, it's a disaster movie, and there are only a few things going on over and over again, so it's normal for everyone to think of the same things.

“What is your attitude towards the project? Do we need to terminate it?”

It was Fox who asked the question.

They do not participate in the investment, but are responsible for global distribution.

"But I must remind you that part of the publicity work has already begun..."

In the past two days, they have indeed started promoting the '2012 Doomsday', although the intensity is not strong.

"No, even though our project was prepared late, we should be afraid of them. Don't forget, we are working with Roland Emmerich..."

Columbia executives didn't mind much.

"Have you found out everything I asked you to find out?"

"I've inquired about it, and it seems their investment cost is 1.2 million..."

"It seems that Warner Bros. is really bold this time. They actually dare to bet so much on a new director..."

"No, although I haven't found out the investment ratio, but according to their previous cooperation model of Pacific Rim, the bulk of the funds seem to come from China..."

"Oh, then I understand."

The person who was speaking was a senior executive of Japan Space. He was well versed in Chinese practices and had already determined that this was another face-saving project.

"I also learned that their project this time does not seem to involve a 3D version..."

The subordinate provided another piece of useful information.

"Well, to make a difference, we'll invest more in 3D, so they can see what a real disaster movie should look like..."

Colombia was also furious.

Warner is obviously trying to take advantage of the traffic, so let Columbia teach you a lesson.

……

At this time in the country, the topic of Zhang Chen once again dominated all major media.

"According to the latest news from Hollywood, Star Entertainment, led by Zhang Chen, will start its second collaboration with Warner Bros. This time, the contract is also for a billion-dollar film project."

The Internet immediately exploded. On almost all portal websites, the news about Zhang Chen’s new project was pinned to the top, with a series of discussions below.

"No way! Pacific Rim hasn't even been released yet, and the second billion-dollar project has already started?"

"Yeah, this is so un-Hollywood. Isn't it said that Hollywood always looks at data? The data hasn't come out yet, but Warner is rushing to cooperate. Could Zhang Chen be the illegitimate son of Warner's chairman..."

"Brothers, can anyone tell me what kind of film project we will be collaborating on for the second time?"

"Oh shit, yeah, what type is it? Should we keep it a secret?"

"Congratulations to the above person, you guessed it right. I just checked the script filing information of the Film Bureau, and it shows that there is indeed a new script filed, and it has passed the review, but the name and content of the script are all confidential..."

"Zhang Chen is so awesome that he can even get the Film Bureau to keep it a secret for him..."

Netizens made various speculations.

Of course, there are also funny ones~
"No way, am I seeing right? Xingchen Entertainment is actually going to cooperate with Huayi on a project worth 100 million US dollars?"

Someone immediately responded: "Brother, if your eyesight is not good, just wear glasses. That's Warner Brothers, not Huayi Brothers..."

There is all sorts of information flying around on the Internet, but there is no detailed information about the movie at all.

The type of film, its content, and even its genre, are all kept strictly confidential.

Because it involves the promotion of the movie.

According to the distribution strategy agreed upon with Warner, from now until the movie is released, they will only do one thing, which is to keep promoting the end of the world in 2012.

Let this doomsday prophecy become known to everyone, and it would be best if it becomes a topic of discussion among all the people.

To this end, Han Sanping took Zhang Chen to find Chen Songli, the leader of the Film Bureau. In the end, the Film Bureau set a precedent and agreed to help keep it confidential.

Domestically, it was China Film Group and Star Entertainment that were responsible for spreading the rumors.

It can’t be said to be a rumor.

Movie distribution!
This thing is not difficult, you only need water army to do it.

Originally, due to the spreading of information by friendly forces such as Yilin, the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world had already spread to a certain extent, but it had not yet become a trend.

All the issuer has to do is to add fuel to the fire.

Keep finding some people to promote this view, and then find a group of experts to refute it.

It's just pulling.

There is traffic only when there is pull.

And there is no need for overwhelming publicity, a subtle and silent approach will do the trick.

Don't doubt it, someone will believe it.

Abroad, as 2012 approaches, some people are thinking about having some fun before the end of the world.

Various crimes occurred frequently~
Then he sent himself in.

I wonder if they will regret spending 2012 in prison.

(End of this chapter)