This celebrity is overly enthusiastic!

Chapter 118 The Anxiety of the Two Kings

The footage of Binbin's audition was sent to the Colombian side, who were clearly also stunned by the amazing charm of 'Crazy Lucy'.

Compared to a month ago, when Chen Yuan flatly rejected their requests during cooperation negotiations, his attitude has softened considerably.

However, she kept explaining to Chen Yuan the huge market risks faced by the sci-fi film with two Asian leads, and believed that although Chen Yuan's styling was excellent, it would still be able to show charm if given to other Hollywood actresses.

Chen Yuan then met with Kunihiro Ando and went to Sony headquarters to show him the shot that set the tone for the art style of "The Edge Walker".

Kunihiro Ando found the short film, which had a rather exaggerated Japanese anime style, very interesting and recommended it to senior executives in other departments.

Trendy and avant-garde, it certainly fits the pie in the sky that Chen Yuan painted for Sony.

After reviewing the product, the head of Sony's digital camera division immediately decided to have Fan Binbin endorse a high-end digital camera that the division was about to launch.

More than a hundred ordinary Sony employees watched the video, and it received praise and appreciation from the vast majority of them. Many people did not know Fan Binbin before, but they all thought that the girl in the short film had a charm that made people's adrenaline and dopamine secretion surge.

Sony is putting extra effort into the promotional impact of "The Edge Walker".

With the attention and support of his parent company, Chen Yuan found it much easier to negotiate cooperation with Columbia.

However, this does not mean that the subsequent cooperation was smooth sailing. Columbia Pictures was investing in Chen Yuan, not opening a charity.

Metaverse, China Film Group, and Columbia Pictures have officially begun negotiations on the details of their collaboration on the "The Edge Walker" project.

Chen Yuan plans to adapt the original anime into a film trilogy.

The first part introduces Night City and David's daily life, with the story progressing from the death of his mother.
Meet Lucy, enter the world of the Edgewalkers, meet the team, face initial challenges, experience setbacks but also grow in the missions.

The second part tells the story of David facing a powerful enemy and internal conflicts within his team. David and Lucy's abilities and beliefs are put to the test, and the story ends with Mann's death.

In the third installment, David becomes the leader of the team, the conspiracy against him tightens, David fights against the ultimate enemy, and embarks on the path to becoming a Night City legend.

The latter two parts are just wishful thinking; the core focus is still on the first part.

Columbia Pictures greatly admired Chen Yuan's outstanding personal abilities and found his art direction for the film to be very eye-catching and appealing.

However, his metaverse has no production capabilities whatsoever, and if he wants to make "The Edge Walker" into a film, he has to rely entirely on Columbia Pictures.

Chen Yuan argued his case with China Film Group, and after a protracted negotiation lasting more than half a month, they reached a preliminary cooperation agreement.
The production budget for "The Edge Walker" is tentatively set at $7000 million, with Metaverse contributing $1000 million, China Film contributing $2000 million, and Columbia Pictures contributing $4000 million. The Chinese and American sides will jointly form the production team.

Columbia Pictures was also responsible for the film's post-production visual effects, promotion, and global distribution, taking 60% of the rights to "The Edge Walker".

China Film Group does not acquire the copyright, but requires that a certain percentage of the scenes be filmed in China.

Metaverse owns 40% of the copyright; there's no way around it, the funding, technology, team, and distribution channels all belong to Columbia.
This is completely different from "Kung Fu Panda"; without them, this project simply wouldn't have started.

The revenue share is even smaller, roughly 20/80, with 80% going to Colombia.

Although Chen Yuan and Han Sanpin appeared to be meticulous about every penny, they weren't actually that concerned with profits. Their primary goal in developing the "Edge Walker" project was to promote Chinese blockbusters and cultivate talent. However, Chen Yuan stubbornly insisted on signing a supplementary clause with Columbia Pictures.
If "The Edge Walker" is successful, it will require more control over subsequent projects, including film preparation, shooting, editing, publicity, merchandise development, and so on.

Columbia Pictures agreed to Chen Yuan's request: if "The Edge Walker" is successful, his status will rise accordingly.

Although Hollywood is said to be producer-centric, it is not actually rigid; capable people always get more say.

Chen Yuan made a big splash with the short film, and even hired a lot of outside help. The news that he was working with Columbia Pictures couldn't be kept secret.

This significant news quickly spread throughout the industry, and tabloids also reported that Chen Yuan might be making another foray into Hollywood, which attracted considerable attention and discussion.

Among them, the Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei brothers are undoubtedly the ones who care the most about this matter. Other families may just be watching the show and admiring Chen Yuan's ability to stir up trouble, but their Huayi is truly involved!
As early as 2001, Huayi Brothers reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Columbia Pictures, planning to collaborate on six films.

The collaboration on "Big Shot's Funeral" went fairly smoothly. They also helped with the overseas distribution of "The Missing Gun". "Warriors of Heaven and Earth" started filming last year and is currently in post-production. It will be released next year.

When Kung Fu Panda became a global phenomenon last year, the two brothers were particularly wary of the metaverse.

Because any company has limited support and resources to provide when expanding its business in a particular region, if Columbia increases its cooperation with Metaverse, wouldn't its cooperation with Huayi Brothers have to be reduced?

Fortunately, apart from investing in Tsui Hark, Metaverse seems to have focused its efforts on television dramas and has no intention of venturing into live-action films.

Huayi, taking advantage of its connection with Columbia, really swaggered around for quite a while.

The fact that Wang Jinghua chose to collaborate with Huayi Brothers was largely due to the latter's reputation for leveraging foreign influence.

The cooperation was only halfway done, so why did that monster Chen Yuan suddenly appear and cause trouble again?
Chen Guofu, who had a certain relationship with Chen Yuan through previous collaborations, inquired about Chen Yuan's cooperation with Colombia, but Chen Yuan only gave a perfunctory answer and did not say anything.

I tried to get some support from China Film Group, but all I got was that the cooperation between the two parties is of a very high standard!
Even the leaders of the film studio have visited the metaverse multiple times.

These days, the two kings have been so bored that they can't eat or drink.

On November 25th, the "Sony Week Grand Event" grandly opened at the Capital Hotel.

This two-week event was specially organized by the Sony Group to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan and to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.

It also serves to showcase Sony's strong resources in technology, business, education, and entertainment.

Many prominent figures from the political and business circles were invited to the event, and the Wang brothers were among those present.

Sony Group's top executives, including Chairman Nobuyuki Idei and President Kunitake Ando, ​​were all present at the opening ceremony.

When Wang Zhongjun saw Chen Yuan and Fan Binbin walk hand in hand onto the opening ceremony stage, and warmly shake hands and hug the chairman and president of Sony, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets!

Chen Yuan not only collaborated with Columbia Pictures on films, but also reached a cooperation agreement with its parent company, Sony Group!

(End of this chapter)