Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 292: Everyone is watching and waiting.

Fat Bing was still washing up and hadn't come out yet. Cao Yang checked the time; she'd been inside for over half an hour. Women were really inefficient in this regard.

Men are much faster in this area.

Why would someone use so many random cosmetics? Sometimes they even use shampoo foam directly as body wash. If they're particular, they might use a little body wash or soap separately.

"Not okay yet?"

Cao Yang shouted something and then quickly took off his clothes and headed to the washroom.

"Almost done... Oh dear, what are you doing in here?"

"Dry!"

Cao Yang laughed and went inside, squeezing some shower gel onto his hand.

"Don't rush, let me apply some shower gel for you first."

Fat Bing stepped back, pretending to be shy as she crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I've already used the shower gel. You go out first, I need to get dressed."

"Already used?"

"Uh-huh."

"I don't believe it. Come on, let me check."

"You have to keep your word. Let me out after the inspection."

"Of course, I'll let you out as soon as I'm done checking."

After a while, Fatty Bing exclaimed, "You can't check there!"

Through the faint sound, Cao Yang's voice came out, "How can I know if it's been applied here without checking..."

Then came screams, shouts, and the sound of splashing water.

After a while, Cao Yang's voice came: "Alright, the inspection is complete. Shower gel was indeed used. I keep my word. You can leave now."

However, instead of the sound of the door opening, Fatty Bing said, "You, you're done checking, now it's my turn to check you."

Then came the sounds of playing around, but this time there was no sound of water. Strangely, there were swallowing and whimpering sounds. I don't know what happened.

After a while, the sound of water splashing came from the bathroom again, accompanied by loud and clear singing.

……

Monday, July 3rd, the opening weekend box office results for Superman are in.

Regardless of the budget of this superhero movie rebooted after 20 years, there is no doubt that DC Comics' Superman has always been one of the most popular superheroes in the United States.

Furthermore, Superman was the first American comic book superhero, leading American comics into its golden age.

Although Superman's popularity in the United States may not be as high as Batman's, it is not far off. Before Marvel's live-action movies had fully taken off, Superman's popularity base was still very stable.

For the three-day weekend from June 30th to July 2nd, Warner Bros.' blockbuster "Superman Returns" topped the North American weekend box office charts.

The box office was over 5200 million.

It grossed over $5200 million in its opening weekend, and with the box office from its opening Wednesday and Thursday, it accumulated $8400 million in five days.

At first glance, this result is quite good. If there are no surprises, the total box office in North America should be able to reach around 2 million.

However, keep in mind that this is a super-blockbuster with a budget of 2.7 million. If this is a real investment, a box office of 2 million in North America? That would be a complete flop.

Even if the actual investment was 1.5 million, the box office performance isn't great; it's just passable.

Of course, if the actual investment was only around 1 million, the box office would be quite good.

In any case, judging from the performance of "Superman Returns" in the past five days, it is definitely impossible for it to be a huge hit again, and Columbia Pictures executives and the main actors of "Inception" all breathed a sigh of relief.

Even with the greatest confidence in "Inception," if "Superman Returns" becomes a huge hit, it will squeeze "Inception's" box office, having a significant impact.

Cao Yang also checked the North American weekend box office charts. Apart from "Superman Returns," which was all hype but little substance, none of the films on the list posed a threat to "Inception."

The second place also belongs to Cao Yang's old acquaintance, the comedy film "The Devil Wears Prada" starring Anne Hathaway, which was released on the 30th and grossed 2750 million yuan in its opening weekend.

Considering the investment in this film, it's a pretty good result. The question is whether it can maintain its momentum. If the drop in the second week is normal, the North American box office should break $100 million.

It's worth mentioning that Meryl Streep, the other female lead in this movie, is absolutely amazing!
As of 2006, Meryl Streep had received 16 Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress and won the award three times. She also received 10 Oscar nominations for Best Actress, though unfortunately, she only won once.

There are countless other awards as well.

This guy is a prize-grabbing monster!
For Meryl Streep, life goes on and so does winning awards!

Cao Yang remembered that there was a Guinness World Record in later years. As of 2018, Meryl Streep had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress) a total of 21 times!
In addition, she has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress a total of 9 times!
It's outrageous!
The next day, while promoting the film, Cao Yang spoke with Berman, the person in charge of his agency and legal affairs.

According to Bellman, negotiations with both Warner Bros. and Disney have reached a stalemate, with significant differences among the parties involved.

The main disagreement lies in the revenue sharing from the film's box office.

Simply put, neither Batman nor Pirates of the Caribbean were willing to share the global box office revenue, only the profits, which Cao Yang could not accept.

Take Warner Bros. for example; they have a long history of shady dealings.

Let's not even talk about Harry Potter. It was such a golden goose, yet they still managed to make it a box office loss. That's just unbelievable.

There's also "Superman Returns," which, as far as Cao Yang knows, is directed by Bryan Singer, who also directed "X-Men 1" and "X-Men 2."

Warner Bros. felt that he had experience directing comic book adaptations, so they wanted him to direct the reboot of "Superman Returns".

But at the time, 20th Century Fox was about to film "X-Men 3", and Bryan Singer was definitely their first choice.

To persuade Bryan Singer to direct "Superman Returns," Warner Bros. offered him a share of the box office profits, and they were much more generous than 20th Century Fox.

Bryan Singer was surprised to hear this.
So he gave up directing "X-Men 3" and chose "Superman Returns," which he felt would bring him more benefits.

Well, with box office profit sharing and a production cost of 2.7 million, Bryan Singer was also badly ripped off by Warner Bros.

As a result, for the next eight or nine years, he only collaborated with 20th Century Fox, producing numerous X-Men films.

It's clear that 20th Century Fox didn't screw him over, otherwise they wouldn't have made seven or eight X-Men movies in one go.

During this period, he was once again moved by Warner Bros.' "sincerity" and decided to give them another chance, producing "Jack the Giant Slayer" with a production cost of $2 million...

In recent years, rumors have circulated among Hollywood directors and actors that Warner Bros. executives are seriously ill, and their favorite thing to do is to suddenly change directors and actors halfway through filming.

Therefore, collaborating with Warner Bros. carries significant risks. These risks include not only the uncertainty of a new film's box office performance but also the risk of being replaced and not receiving a share of the box office revenue.

If Warner Bros. only offered a share of the box office profits, no matter how high the offer was, Cao Yang wouldn't even consider it.

Compared to the stalemate of "Batman", it is actually easier to negotiate with Disney. After all, the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" flopped, and they have already temporarily shelved it. If they want to restart it in the short term, they can only find a big director.

As for Warner Bros.' proposed adaptation of "Gravity," since the copyright is held by Cao Yang, Warner Bros.' sincerity is more evident.

Currently, their offer is 10% of the global box office and subsequent revenue sharing, which is lower than Inception's 13%, so the situation remains at a stalemate.

Cao Yang knew that the reason why the negotiations were at an impasse was because Inception was about to be released.

Everyone is waiting to see how his first big-budget film with an investment of over 100 million US dollars performs.

However, according to Bellman, Warner Bros. was quite interesting. They felt that the investment in "Gravity" was too small and immediately asked for more than $1.5 million, instead of the $1 million that Cao Yang had budgeted.

In their words, what can $1 million do? For a movie that's mostly set in a fictional world, you have to spend a lot of money and invest in special effects to make it look realistic.

Of course, Warner Bros. wasn't just throwing money at the problem; their requirements were simple: Gravity had to use their designated special effects company.

Okay, considering the $2.7 million gross of "Superman Returns", Cao Yang can roughly guess Warner Bros.' thoughts.

Over the weekend of July 7th to July 9th, with no new movies released, "Superman Returns" remained at the top of the North American weekend box office charts, although its total box office for the three days was only $22 million.

Including weekday box office earnings, "Superman Returns" has grossed $1.42 million so far.

Based on the box office performance of "Superman Returns" over the weekend, it will have almost no impact when "Inception" is released next week.

Cao Yang had participated in quite a few promotional events in North America, and with no major films threatening releases next week, he returned to China with Fan Bingbing, Wu Qihua, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

He plans to spend a week promoting "Inception" again in the country.

In North America, Johnny Depp, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Hardy are enough. Cao Yang knows that Leonardo DiCaprio's popularity in China is unmatched by other Hollywood stars, so he brought him along.

On July 13, the premiere of "Inception," the largest co-production in Chinese history in terms of investment, was held at the CPPCC Auditorium amidst much anticipation.

In an instant, a constellation of stars gathered, and almost all of China's top directors were present, all eager to see in advance what this film, which cost 15 billion RMB to produce, was like.

(End of this chapter)