Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 391 Comfort (14)

Human Purge Program…

It's ugly!
It's even pretty mindless...

Logically speaking, the broad concept of human cleansing and legalized violence could be used to film a lot of things…

But the movie only depicts the plight of an ordinary middle-class family, and it's incredibly mindless!
Oh, Shen Yan's script is just a creative outline; he doesn't really understand what makes Americans happy...

I'm worried that if I write the script, I won't be able to do this project well.

Especially after learning that "Arnola" won the Oscar for Best Picture...

I was completely dumbfounded!

Isn't this just a cliché story of a prostitute and a prince?
Aside from the 18+ content in the opening 20 minutes, which is somewhat interesting, the rest is unremarkable.

Attempting to imitate "Boule de Suif" resulted in writing about mutton tail fat...

This thing is practically free in the domestic short video industry, how did it win an Oscar?

You just say we don't understand America!

By the way, after winning the award, a bunch of content creators started scrutinizing everything, offering 'in-depth analyses' and asking questions like, 'Did you really understand Anora?'

But after reading these so-called in-depth analyses... they're clearly at a loss for words, yet they keep spouting things they themselves don't believe...

Including Black Panther, Jumanji, Barbie, and Super Mario Bros. the Movie, which were huge hits in North America…

This shows that aesthetics do vary from region to region.

So, let David Fenkel find someone to expand the script...

After watching the movie, the group returned to the hotel, and Shishi couldn't hold back any longer: "Did you write this script?"

"No, no... I just provided the script idea... and set up the concept of a statutory killing day..."

Shen Yan categorically denied it!

Shi Shi then said, "I knew it... I felt this story was boring!"

“These low-cost splatter films either rely on their scale or their premise…” Shen Yan shrugged: “The Purge is a typical example of a film that succeeds by relying on its premise.”

Huang Xiaoming, who was standing nearby, asked, "What is the total cost?"

“I asked David Fenkel, and he said $170 million…”

"So low?"

"It was just one apartment, and the actors and props were very basic... and it was all filmed in 12 days!"

"That male lead looks familiar!"

"Jon Hamm, the male lead in 'Mad Men'... He had a good relationship with David Fenkel, so he convinced him to star in it!"

"Huh? How will his salary be calculated?"

"I estimate the conversion of salary into equity..." Shen Yan explained, "That is, the salary is converted into investment... it should be around 8%..."

This is common practice for low-budget films; actors' salaries are basically converted into equity...

Unless you want to use a washed-up or completely new person...

Jon Hamm is still quite popular. Although Mad Men only had 300 million viewers, it was broadcast on AMC!

AMC is a cable television network, and its shows are mostly on pay-TV channels, and it wasn't very well-known before...

In other words, inviting her to star, especially as the male lead, should have cost at least $150 million…

The production team couldn't possibly afford to spend that much money!

The original story of "The Purge" was set in Los Angeles, but to save costs, the location was changed to New York, thus saving a lot of money on airfare, hotels, and other travel expenses...

The setting itself is just an apartment…

Shi Shi then asked, "So how much is your script fee?"

"I don't take script fees... I'm the creative provider, I only take a share..."

"Oh…"

It wasn't appropriate to ask further, since there were outsiders present...

Shen Yan smiled and said, "Around 15% of the profits..."

"How much is that?"

"Let's see how the box office goes... I'm not talking about it anymore, let's go back and rest, we're heading home tomorrow!"

Shen Yan wasn't too concerned about the box office performance of "The Purge"—it wouldn't be less than $3000 million anyway!
But David Fenkel was very concerned, as this was the first film that A24 had invested in and distributed.

Anyway, when they came to see him off the next day, I excitedly told him that the opening day screening of "The Purge" was a great success, and that they would expand the screening scale starting next week...

"So... is there a rough box office forecast?"

"At least 4500 million..."

Shen Yan was quite happy, hugged him, and then turned and boarded the plane…

In North America, box office revenue sharing and profit sharing are two different concepts.

Horror films generally account for roughly half of the total box office revenue…

It certainly can't compare to blockbuster commercial films.

But if we do the math, if the box office really is $4500 million, then the box office revenue would be $2000 million…

With overseas copyrights, television copyrights, DVD copyrights, and online copyrights combined, the estimated revenue is at least $3500 million!

Shen Yan's 15% is $525 million...

It will only be more, not less!

Yes, once this profit-sharing agreement is finalized, Shen Yan can recoup all his investments in North America and make a fortune along the way.

On the plane, Shi Shi suddenly said, "...The total box office of 'The Imitation Game' has exceeded 6.8 million...Aren't you guys going to break 7 million?"

"what?"

"The box office performance of 'The Imitation Game'..."

"It's already 6.8 million?"

Shen Yan took Shi Shi's phone with some surprise. Okay, it was a weekly movie box office report—as of September 16th, "The Imitation Game" had been in theaters for seven weeks, ranking eighth with a box office of 202 million…

The cumulative box office has successfully exceeded 6.8 million!
The top-ranked film is *The Expendables 2* with 9454 million, followed by *Prometheus* with 5902 million, then *The Dark Knight Rises* with 3563 million, and *The Amazing Spider-Man* in fourth place with 2804 million…

Then came *White Deer Plain*, *A Sad Fairy Tale*, and *The Great Adventure in Peru*…

Shen Yan couldn't help but ask her, "Why is 'Sad Fairy Tale' only 964 million?"

Shi Shi stubbornly insisted, "We've already made a profit; the cost was only 400 million!"

Shen Yan really wanted to ask a question in return... If a movie doesn't even make 1000 million in its opening weekend, it could easily break even by selling its rights to a movie channel...

Never mind, I guess she's not happy either...

Changing the subject: "Don't you need to do any promotion?"

Shi Shi sighed: "I heard the director had a falling out with Enlight Media..."

The implementation process was quite difficult... Although "Sad Fairy Tale" is a low-budget art-house romance film, Enlight Media still managed to secure 14.7% of the screenings for it...

The result was a mere 471 million in box office revenue on the opening day…

Despite the little lion's desperate attempts to save face online...

But this movie was indeed carried by Liu Shishi at the box office...

While Joey Yung could be blamed for "After the Glamour," it's really hard to shift the blame for "Sad Fairy Tale."

Yes, "Sad Fairy Tale" received poor reviews, but Yang Mi has starred in a bunch of bad movies, the worst of which is "The Great Wudang" with a box office of 37 million yuan. Not to mention Liu Yifei, whose worst box office so far is "Love Announcement" with Wang Leehom—the one that was overshadowed by "Architecture 101"—but it still had a box office of 30 million yuan!

"Sad Fairy Tale" will most likely only reach around 2000 million!
Of the three leading actresses born in 85, I'm the worst off?

Many people online are already predicting Liu Shishi's downfall.

She said these things with a hint of frustration...

Shen Yan hugged her: "It's okay, it's not our fault, and the opinions online just come in waves."

"...I wasn't that sad, just felt pretty unlucky..."

"How to say?"

"I feel like this year has been so unlucky, I keep getting criticized..."

"...No way, you're a shoo-in for first place in the Golden Eagle Goddess voting at the Golden Eagle Awards!"

(End of this chapter)