Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 405 Anne Hathaway is mine too! And then I meet James Wan again!
Salt Lake City, though not crowded, is still too cold.

In the warmth of the room, it's natural to wear more clothes.

Before the kiss had completely faded, they kissed again.

After that,
Anne Hathaway bit her lip and closed her eyes tightly.

Her original plan fell through completely; she had no intention of getting entangled with the man in front of her.

But then it was discovered that after getting entangled,

Had to...

Anne Hathaway was about to give up when, unexpectedly, she heard Ma Xun's voice in her ear.

Then punch him with your hand.

Unfortunately, he was arrested.

Well... damn it, she really had no choice but to keep pestering her.

……

Actually, I was just teasing her.

But Ma Xun was naturally not going to be hit by her. The key point was that this kind of Annie, who was like a wildcat, was even more appealing.

The two enjoyed reliving their time in Hong Kong.

It seems that many of Anne's memories have been awakened.
In that case, nothing really matters.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have taken this role."

"You wouldn't accept such a good script?"

"Ma Xun, you really are..."

"Haha... I'm just stating the facts. I have great confidence in this film, '50 First Dates,' and I recommended you to Columbia Pictures because I think you're very suitable."

"I never imagined you were a fan of mine?"

"So how does it feel to be fucked by your fans now, my beautiful superstar?"

"You bastard!"

"Haha... Put your claws away, let's talk about something constructive instead."

What topics are constructive?

"It's simple, you don't just want to be a minor celebrity, do you?"

"Can't I become a big star step by step through acting?"

"Yes, of course you can. Your first movie was amazing. But can you guarantee that every movie you make will be a huge success? Or rather, don't you have any idea what the second Princess Diaries movie will be like?"

"How did you know? This movie hasn't been released yet."

"It's very simple. It's been so long, and it still hasn't been released. Obviously, Disney has no confidence at all."

"you……"

"My little wildcat, you're just an actress, and I'm a capitalist. Our worlds are different, and we see the world from different perspectives. Don't you understand?"

"You...do you want me to enter your world?"

“It’s very smart. After all, I’m Chinese. The US has such a great film and television market, but I find it hard to make money. I can only make a little bit of money by relying on companies like Columbia. How can I be content with that?”

Ma Xun's words really provoked Anne Hathaway.

Indeed, she was just a minor actress, while Ma Xun was the boss.

The book is not a good read. Hollywood actors act their whole lives, but in the end, they are still just actors. It is very difficult for them to achieve upward social mobility.

Of course, there are also examples of successful leaps, such as this Radford, but he is not actually a very big boss.

Look at the Sundance Film Festival, it's basically a makeshift event. Its biggest role is to discover some potential filmmakers and a very small number of successful films.

To say there isn't one would be incorrect, for example, in "American Psycho".

But there are also some poignant 'details' in this film.

It was originally a low-budget film, but then Lionsgate picked it up, and then...

In other words, after achieving great success, a sequel was filmed very quickly.

And this sequel... kills off the male protagonist from the first movie and replaces him with a female protagonist, who is a 'mentally ill person' turned into a woman, and lets her go on a killing spree.

As you can imagine, this film died a very quick death.

And this movie about mental patients will never have a sequel.

In fact, it's not just that the male lead has been replaced by the female lead; everything in "American Psycho 2"—from the director to the minor supporting actors, and almost everything else—has been changed.

It only has this one name, the same as the previous work.

Clearly, this is the result of capital operations; capital wants to arrange its own people.

Even if you replace the entire thing and end up losing money, that's still a capitalist operation.

Such a successful movie, and the sequel turned out like this... You can tell from this.

In Hollywood, an actor is basically at the mercy of capital.

Very few things can actually become capital.

It's not that you can't be a boss or start a company, but you'll have to face the challenges...

Annie was a very intelligent girl, and she was naturally very interested in Ma Xun's so-called 'constructive' ideas.

"So, what's your plan?"

When Ma Xun heard Annie say this, he knew... you finally fell for it!
Oh, let's not bring Huang Bo from "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" into this.

It can't be said that Ma Xun was entirely bluffing; he genuinely needed a trustworthy and intelligent person in the United States to act as his agent.

Anne Hathaway is a perfect fit. Ma Xun had heard about her long ago; this woman is skilled in almost everything and is also an academic achiever, which proves that she has a brilliant mind.

More importantly, it probably won't be long before her reputation in the United States undergoes a strange change.

Anne Hathaway is the most hated female celebrity in America.

She was disliked because she was too pretentious, always talking about how amazing she was, although it was later proven that she wasn't lying.

She wasn't exaggerating, but Americans disliked her even more.

This kind of person is perfect.

As for the plan...

"The film 'The Infirmary' is my next major collaborative project with Columbia Pictures."

I'm pretty sure this movie will be a success; it might even be the next "The Ring."

"what?"

This word expresses surprise.

Seeing Annie's expression, Ma Xun knew that he had completely controlled this woman. So he continued, "Look, you're so surprised. Don't you think it's clear how the Colombian side will react?"

Annie was indeed clever; she quickly guessed what Ma Xun meant.

"Are you trying to take advantage of this? That is, that Columbia Pictures itself lacks confidence in the film, and then once the film is completed, we'll find an opportunity to acquire the film rights?"

After hearing this, Ma Xun smiled and patted Annie on the shoulder, "I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You really are a smart girl."

Annie blushed when she was photographed and immediately raised her protective gear.

But Ma Xun then said, "We can't acquire all the copyrights yet. After all, we don't have enough connections and business relationships in the North American film market. We still need the connections of a big company like Columbia Pictures."

Anne understood everything at once. "I get it. After Insidious is made, Columbia Pictures may lack confidence, so they will sell part of the copyright to share the risk of the film."

"At this point, we can step in, acquire the rights to this portion, and if the film becomes a huge success, we'll make a fortune. And in the future, we can even make a sequel to the film?"

Ma Xun nodded after hearing this, "bingo, very smart."

Anne frowned. "But how can you be so sure this movie will be a success?"

Ma Xun laughed and said, "This movie itself has a low budget, and I will recommend you to play one of the roles, but not the lead. So, a beautiful girl like you playing a horror movie will be very attractive in itself."

Furthermore, everything in this horror film will be brand new, which will definitely shock American audiences.

Finally, the key point is that Japanese horror films have recently been very successful in the United States, which has laid the foundation for our success. "Insidious" will contain Chinese elements about ghosts and gods. You should know that Japan also learned from China.

We are the original, so our movie is sure to be a success.

To be honest, Annie was completely fooled by Ma Xun's scheme.

"So, how do we acquire that portion of the copyright?"

“I will set up a company in your name and I will arrange someone to be your partner. As for the funds, they will come from Hong Kong, where I also have businesses.”

It's actually Golden Harvest, which is also known as Cherie Chung. Ma Xun's actions effectively solved the problem of his difficulty in obtaining box office revenue sharing in the American film market.

It has always been a buyout.

There's really no other way, but right now this is a really great opportunity.

Ma Xun must seize this opportunity.

On the one hand, Columbia Pictures' willingness to invest in "Insidious" was actually due to the huge success of Japanese horror films in the United States in recent years.

Moreover, Columbia Pictures also profited from the Taiwanese film "Double Vision".

Ma Xun and Ge Luming collaborated very well and directly launched the "Yin'erfang" project.

The other aspect is the real key.

Columbia will definitely lack confidence!
how so?

This is obviously Ma Xun's move.

To put it bluntly, he would create some noise when the movie was finished, or during the preview screenings, to stir up some trouble.

Bribing a few film critics doesn't cost much at all.

Can this really get a large company to relinquish its copyright?
Don't overestimate how powerful these big Hollywood companies are.

These big Hollywood studios have done far too many stupid things regarding copyright.

Here's a recent example, which is also the most unbelievable one.

Twentieth Century Fox invested heavily in a film that took several years to shoot and exceeded its budget by hundreds of millions of dollars.

In the end, they figured the film was probably doomed, so they might as well just give up.

On the eve of the film's release, a contract was signed with Paramount Pictures.

The North American distribution rights were sold for $70 million.

What movie is this?

Titanic!
Regarding this matter, if you are not familiar with it or haven't seen it, it was released by FOX themselves.

Doesn't this seem like nonsense?
Even novels wouldn't dare write something like this!

That's Cameron! That's a big ship!

But it really happened.

and!

In the future, there will be another movie with a huge investment, but Fox still doesn't have high hopes for it before its release.

So he simply said to the director, "Why don't you buy the rights to this film?"

The director repeatedly confirmed, "Are you telling the truth?"

Fox nodded repeatedly.

I just hope the director will simply buy the film rights and that's it.

Yes, the deal is done.

So, who is this director?
It's still James Cameron!

And that movie is Avatar!
This is a true story, absolutely true!
It was just a puddle; I fell in twice.

Well, actually, 20th Century Fox crashed quite a few times, otherwise, it wouldn't have ended up being sold to Disney.

It's not just Fox; in the area of ​​copyright transactions, countless Hollywood companies have done things they regret.

In fact, many companies have gone bankrupt simply because of one mismanagement; they produced excellent films but ended up losing their businesses.

Returning to the entire plan that Ma Xun mentioned, it is actually a very common one, and highly feasible.

Although Anne Hathaway is still just a young actress, she is very intelligent and attended a prestigious university.

It's obvious at a glance that this plan is truly brilliant.

Moreover, she could also achieve a substantial upward social mobility and become a capitalist.

But this girl is indeed smart.

"Do you always do this in China too?"

After hearing this, Ma Xun didn't say anything, he just smiled.

Annie couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, but then she mounted him.

Great, she's back to normal life in Hong Kong.

Ma Xun held the man's waist, quite satisfied.

Anne Hathaway is mine now!

……

In fact, Ma Xun didn't tell everything.

He had a backup plan.

In other words, why was he so sure that the horror film "Insidious" would be a success?
He still has an ace up his sleeve.

If we find this trump card, then "The Shadow Room" is bound to be a success!
This trump card is... sometimes it's truly like searching high and low without finding it.

The Sundance Film Festival continues.

Several films brought by Ma Xun were also screened in the Asian Film section.

The movie "The Terror Live" is particularly captivating.

There's no way around it; after all, the Sundance Film Festival is primarily focused on B-movies.

And B-movies are mostly horror movies.

Therefore, many horror movie enthusiasts come here.

Here comes the interesting part.

Many people were greatly disappointed after the screening of "The Terror Live".

This isn't a horror movie!

I was cheated!

However, an Asian youth specifically sought out Ma Xun.

"Is this Mr. Ma?"

"That's right, you are..."

"I love your movie so much."

Although this person is Asian, he speaks entirely in English.

When Ma Xun saw him, he was overjoyed.

The next thing this person said was, "Mr. Ma, I'd like to borrow a scene from your movie, is that alright?"

Which scene?

"Exactly! That last guy got up! You know what I mean? That security guard, the bomber, he got up! That scene was amazing! He's practically a demon!"

Ma Xun laughed heartily, "No problem, but you..."

"Oh, by the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is James Wan, and my friend Leigh Whannell and I both really love horror movies! And your movie is fantastic!"

James Wan?

That's right, there's no Saw movie yet, so in The Terror Live, there's this scene where the security guard stands up again.

Ma Xun was the first to create this!

"You should have movies, right?"

"It's still in the planning stages, this..."

Clearly, this guy either doesn't have the money or hasn't found investors to support him.

But Ma Xun simply put his arm around the young man's shoulder and said, "I actually have another movie that I'm planning to recommend you to direct, what do you think?"

This statement greatly surprised James Wynne.

"awesome!"

Actually, he brought his own script and came to the Sundance Film Festival with a friend to scout out the location.

Now, a bright future has been discovered!
(End of this chapter)