Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 350 Optimal Solution
Jeff Robinoff was pleased, thinking he understood Cao Yang's thoughts.

If Cao Yang succeeds and "Joker" wins major awards at the three major European film festivals or even the Oscars, it would be something to celebrate for Warner Bros. and DC.

This will inadvertently increase people's preconceived notions about Batman, and give Batman another selling point—if it can win an award, then a new Joker comic can be produced.

Who says only comics can be adapted into movies? Movies can be adapted into comics too. As long as it's profitable, it doesn't matter who adapts whom.

"Cao, how confident are you of winning an award? I'm talking about the three major European awards or the Oscars."

Jeff Robinoff was clearly interested. Putting aside the positive impact on "Batman" and the creation of new comics, almost every film that wins an award at one of the three major European film festivals or the Oscars makes money.

Even if the box office performance isn't ideal, subsequent merchandise and DVD rentals, or the sale of broadcasting rights, can make the movie a fortune.

Moreover, Cao Yang has yet to have a film with a low box office.

Upon hearing Jeff Robinoff's words, Cao Yang was stunned for a moment before realizing that the other party might have misunderstood him, thinking that he wanted to make an award-winning art film.

Even if Cao Yang said this movie would be a box office hit, Jeff Robinoff might not believe it and would have to go through all the trouble of explaining, which is unnecessary.

In addition, there is another benefit to making Jeff Robinoff misunderstand.

That means Cao Yang is making commercially oriented films that prioritize box office revenue, so his share of the profits will be less. If he doesn't include a performance-based agreement like with "Pirates of the Caribbean," then 13% of the total box office revenue is practically a hurdle.

Cao Yang needs at least two more blockbuster movies to possibly break through this hurdle.

But art films are different.

Art films have lower budgets and are geared towards awards, so box office revenue is unlikely to be high, which means Cao Yang's share of the profits will be significantly higher.

For films like "Juno" and the currently producing "The Fault in Our Stars," Cao Yang received 20% of the global box office revenue without directing or acting as director, producer, or screenwriter.

So, if Jeff Robinoff thinks Joker is an award-winning film and a purely art film, then that's it.

After careful consideration, Cao Yang said to Jeff Robinoff, "If it's the Venice Film Festival, I'm about 70% sure I'll win; the Cannes Film Festival, about 50%; and the Oscars..."

After glancing at Jeff Robinoff, Cao Yang continued, "If Warner Bros. fully cooperates in the awards campaign, and if the film competes for awards before its wide release, we should have about a 60% chance of winning several awards."

Of the three major European film festivals, the Venice Film Festival is Cao Yang's most promising, followed by the Cannes Film Festival.

As for why he didn't mention the Berlin Film Festival... Under normal circumstances, coupled with the financial crisis, the probability of "Joker" winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival would not be low.

Unfortunately, this is Cao Yang's film, and even if the Berlin Film Festival wanted to give Cao Yang the Golden Bear, the Europeans would put pressure on Berlin.

You can win as many awards as you want in Venice and Cannes, but no European wants to see a Chinese person win all three major European Grand Slams and become the fourth person in the world to do so.

Therefore, to win the Golden Bear at Berlin, one needs the right timing and the right film, which is also the tacit understanding between Cao Yang and Dieter Kosslick, the president of the Berlin Film Festival.

Joker... It has artistic merit, but it lacks political correctness.

Regarding the Oscars, Cao Yang specifically emphasized that the film should be vying for awards before its widespread release. Otherwise, if the film becomes a box office hit and then attempts to win awards, it will face "discrimination" due to its high box office performance, automatically increasing the difficulty of winning by 10086.
Just like in the original timeline, "Joker" received nine nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards.

However, because it was nominated for awards after its release and subsequent box office success, it only won one Best Actor and one Best Original Score, while losing all the others.

This time, Jeff Robinov was truly stunned.

Damn it, is this even human language?

You keep saying you're 50%, 60%, or 70% sure, do you think the three major European football clubs and the Oscars are your private property?

"Cao, are you serious?"

Jeff Robinoff asked this question with particular seriousness.

Cao Yang nodded. "I never joke about awards."

"Let's do it!" If Jeff Robinoff hadn't been a man accustomed to big events, he would have blurted out those two words.

"Cao, how much do you estimate this movie will cost?"

Jeff Robinoff suppressed his inner turmoil and asked.

As the president of Warner Bros. Pictures, he was quite capable in business; at least he could use the film's budget to gauge whether Cao Yang genuinely wanted to make the film.

Cao Yang considered it carefully for a while. This movie didn't have any big scenes, didn't need many special effects, and didn't need to hire big stars. It was just an ordinary narrative movie.

The only significant expense was probably the salaries of my director and screenwriter.

In addition, we also need to factor in all the expenses and marketing costs of participating in one of the three major European film festivals.

"6000 million should be enough."

6000?
I'll fucking increase it to 8000 million, as long as you can guarantee to make a high-quality award-winning film!

Of course, this is Jeff Robinoff's internal thought process. The film's budget, Cao Yang's salary and profit sharing, all need to be calculated and coordinated with the team.

"Cao, what other ideas do you have? Tell me about them."

Jeff Robinoff said eagerly.

Before meeting Jeff Robinoff, Cao Yang had not considered making a Batman or Joker movie.

These ideas originated from some of his wildest thoughts when Warner Bros. and Disney invited him to participate last year, and unexpectedly, they've come in handy now.

“Jeff, my idea is that the Joker movie should ideally be linked to the second Batman movie, with the Joker movie being released after the second Batman movie.”

Jeff Robinoff nodded. He certainly understood these principles; it was all about building hype and publicity, and it could also pique the audience's curiosity.

"Cao, have you ever thought about directing both 'Batman' and 'Joker' at the same time? That kind of collaboration would be more interesting, smoother, and could create a huge buzz."

Jeff Robinoff hasn't given up and wants to persuade Cao Yang to direct "The Batman" again, which would actually be beneficial for both films.

Cao Yang hesitated for a moment.

In fact, there was no need to direct the two movies at the same time. It wouldn't have been too late to make "The Batman" first and then "Joker".

Batman has a lot of special effects and a long production cycle, while Joker is different. It's possible that Joker will be finished filming before Batman's special effects are completed.

However, there is one question: if he were to direct this Batman film, should he ask Heath Ledger to take over?

In the US, the claim of dying from a drug overdose is very likely the kind of death people are thinking of.

It's clear that this Batman movie marketed the deceased Heath Ledger, which is why the film became so popular.

Without Heath Ledger, this movie wouldn't have achieved such high box office numbers.

If Cao Yang doesn't direct, he can ignore all of this and let things develop as they will.

But if he were to direct, it would be difficult to know all of this and still do it.

If there are concerns about the lack of collaboration, there is a compromise: Cao Yang could write a script for "Batman," which would also achieve a collaboration.

However, if Warner Bros. were to ask Nolan to direct "The Batman" again, it could very likely lead to conflict.

Nolan is a visionary and a very famous director. Would a director like him simply follow someone else's script?
It's hard.

(End of this chapter)