Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 275: 30% Share
Toei, movie theater.

As the name suggests, it is of course a place to watch movies.

However, to be more precise, it is a place where producers and other distributors can preview films, and later journalists will be invited to the first preview.

At the moment, there was no such gimmick, and Gu Ming only found out there was no preview until the preview began, so he had to sit down with others and watch the finished film.

Kurosawa Mitsuru and Kurosawa Akira differed by only one character, and their status was vastly different, but at this moment, Kurosawa Mitsuru could equally decide the life or death of a film. The others sat down, Kurosawa Mitsuru keeping his arms folded, his expression expressionless.

The others would laugh from time to time, but it was all suppressed and restrained laughter, as if no one dared to laugh unless Kurosawa Mitsuru laughed.

The whole film is ninety-four minutes long, which is also the more common film length nowadays. If it is too long, it will be difficult for theaters to schedule screenings and audiences will not be able to sit still.

However, from beginning to end, there was no reaction from Kurosawa Mitsuru.

Jissoji Akio glanced at Gu Ming and wanted to say something, but was concerned about disturbing the environment here, so he remained silent, but there was a bit of suspicion in his eyes.

Jissoji Akio didn't think his skills had declined. After all, he had been filming for so many years, but now, Kurosawa Mitsuru's reaction made him feel a little unsure.

Could it be that perhaps...

Is it because the work is too bad?

It was not until the end credits rolled and the lights in the screening room came on that Kurosawa Mitsuru looked at Gu Ming.

"The movie is wonderful, even better than I imagined. But, Furuya-kun, I have some questions. Please answer them seriously."

"Please say."

"Why does that Hong Kong guy need to be here?"

Gu Ming's heart moved slightly.

He wasn't surprised by such questions. Gu Ming had known about this possibility from the moment he cast Cheng Long. After all, adding a foreigner to a Japanese production, coupled with numerous frontal shots, seemed a bit odd no matter how one looked at it.

This is different from the use of Cynthia Rothschild in Maoyan. Cynthia Rothschild obviously has the characteristics brought by internationalization, but in this Nara Kaidan, Li Chenglong plays a different role.

When asked by Kurosawa Mitsuru, Gu Ming answered without hesitation, "Because his recent films have been very successful, he has become very famous in Hong Kong and has a good reputation in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and other places. If he is in the film, it will be more helpful to expand into the overseas market."

Kurosawa Mitsuru made a noncommittal sound, which could not be described as disdain or admiration. He just said quietly: "Gugu-kun really thinks long-term."

Gu Ming took it as a compliment: "Who wouldn't want to film overseas? This guy's called Cheng Long. His film has been entrusted to Toei Foreign Films for screening. I heard they're working on dubbing and subtitles, so it should be showing in theaters soon."

The film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow that made Cheng Long famous was released in Japan after it was re-dubbed by Toei in 1979. Before that, Cheng Long was not famous in Japan.

Now after hearing what Gu Ming said, Kurosawa Mitsuru secretly took note of it.

Toei has several different departments, one of which is responsible for the distribution and production of small and medium-sized investment films. In addition, Toei also has a company that specializes in screening and distributing foreign films.

If you have the chance, go and see this person.

Kurosawa Mitsuru no longer dwelled on Cheng Long's affairs, but asked another question.

"Kuroya-kun, do you know the current film distribution compensation ratio?"

Gu Ming said seriously, "I'd like to hear the details."

People who often watch Japanese works, such as anime, movies and TV dramas, will find that there is often an 'XX Production Committee' at the beginning, where XX is the name of the corresponding work.

This is a unique production method in Japan. Just like Hollywood needs to buy insurance when making movies, it uses a production committee system to conduct comprehensive production evaluations of the works.

However, the committee system has not yet emerged, and the works are completely dominated by the producers.

In Japan, box office revenue is broadly divided into two parts, namely 'box office revenue' and 'ration revenue'.

Box office is what people generally understand as box office, while ration income is the share that the production committee can get.

In other words, before the production committee system was established, about 50 to 60% of the box office revenue belonged to the distributor, and the rest belonged to the theater chain.

The distributor will then share this revenue with the producer. After deducting various expenses such as copying fees and publicity costs, each party will probably get a 20% share.

In other words, for a movie, the producer can get one-fifth of the total box office revenue.

Of course, this ratio is not absolute. The allocation income ratio of some films is relatively high, up to 70%.

Correspondingly, if a distribution company is itself a distribution company under a certain theater, then part of the income will be converted into box office revenue, that is, the proportion of the allocated income occupied by the distributor will be appropriately reduced.

Toei has its own cinema chain, and Central Film Production Company is a subsidiary of Toei, responsible for the production and distribution of small and medium-cost films. Therefore, Kurosawa Mitsuru will appropriately reduce the share ratio.

"In short, based on the rationed income, your firm can get about 68%. We can discuss the details later."

Gu Ming did a quick calculation.

68% of the allocated income is equivalent to about one-third of the total income, or about %.

This can be said to be a very high proportion. Of course, it is mainly because Toei has its own cinema chain and does not rely entirely on distribution income. At the same time, this movie also used Toei's studios, staff, rented Toei equipment, etc. In short, it is highly bound to Toei, so it can receive such preferential treatment.

Otherwise, the share you can get is generally only about 20%, or even less than 20%.

Just as Gu Ming was about to agree, Jissoji Akio suddenly spoke.

“What is the rationing ratio?”

Kurosawa Mitsuru glanced at him with a somewhat surprised look in his eyes.

"Well..."

“What is the rationing ratio?”

"This one……"

Kurosawa Mitsuru gave an ambiguous smile and said, "We'll talk about it in detail later."

Jissoji Akio sighed, "Look, you, Toei isn't such a bad company, is it? If you don't agree on the ratio, what kind of preferential treatment is that?"

Gu Ming also came to his senses now.

No matter how high the share ratio is, it is just rogue behavior if we don’t talk about the distribution income ratio.

This distribution ratio will not be made public. If the ratio between Toei and Central Production Company is as outrageous as 9.1, then Gu Ming can only get one-third of 10%, which is 3% of the total box office.

Although the proportion will not be so excessive, it does need to be made clear.

Kurosawa Mitsuru immediately became serious, saluted the two of them, and bowed deeply.

"I'm very sorry, this is a mistake on my part. Then, the rationing ratio can be around 55%. This is what Toei can offer."

Gu Ming calculated it at the speed of a pig's brain.

Then the final landing ratio should be 37.5%. This number sounds a bit scary. Gu Ming even suspects that the distribution may not actually make money.

"No! He released a bunch of crap! I hired someone to shoot the commercials myself, and they were even given to me for free by Ryosuke Watanabe. I paid for the entire production myself. The only thing I did as a distribution company was to contact Toei Cinemas to coordinate the release date. 37.5% is what I deserve!"

Gu Ming couldn't help but clap his hands secretly.

At first, he thought that the ratio offered by Kurosawa Mitsuru was good, but after careful calculation, he realized that the other party was just doing him a favor.

After all, it didn’t cost much to distribute it, and the advertisement was donated by Ryosuke Watanabe!

The few of them discussed for a long time and decided on various conditions such as the release time and the number of premiere theaters. Finally, Kurosawa Mitsuru held Gu Ming's hand tightly and shook it again and again.

"Well then, I wish Furuya-kun a huge box office success in advance!"

Gu Ming smiled.

How can we compare with you people who control the upstream industries!

(End of this chapter)