Run, Best Actor!

Liu Tai-le didn't take a hard line this time with the self-produced film project of Jia Le Media.

Making online micro-films is a good option because it doesn't cost that much, and you can attract viewers with exaggerated ideas and plot twists. Creating an original film is no big deal.

But not official theatrical releases.

The initial investment is huge, and you can only make money by relying entirely on the market. At the same time, you can lose money if you are not careful.

Therefore, choosing a successful work from the original timeline that has been tested by the market as the starting point for Jiale Media's self-produced projects is the best choice at present.

However, Liu Taile decided to take a more aggressive approach and invest in two projects at once.

His choices were the 2015 film "Back to 20" and the Japanese film "Flying Colors" from the same year.

The former and the South Korean film "Miss Granny" released in 2014 are "one film, two films".

This means that a script is filmed in two versions, one in China and one in South Korea, with different directors and different actors.

This stems from the China-South Korea film co-production agreement signed in 2014.

The original timeline refers to a bilateral film and television cooperation agreement signed at the Blue House in South Korea between the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea.

Based on a cooperation framework initialed in 2013, the agreement stipulates that certified Sino-Korean co-productions will enjoy the same treatment as domestic films in both markets, will not be subject to import quotas, and must meet standards such as a personnel ratio of 20%-80% and a minimum investment of 20% in production costs.

In fact, there have been precedents for Sino-Korean co-productions before. At the beginning, it was just a simple collaboration. This stage was limited to filming locations for each other and mainly focused on the export of actors. For example, "Flying Dance," directed by Kim Young-jun, was a collaboration between Shanghai Film Group and the South Korean side. "Flying Dance" starred the then-popular South Korean actress Kim Hee-sun and Chinese actor Wang Yanan.

For example, Zhang Ziyi later starred in "The Warrior", Zhang Dongjian starred in "The Promise", and Chinese actor Tang Wei met South Korean director Kim Tae-yong while starring in "Late Autumn".

A deeper collaboration began with the 2007 film "Assembly" directed by Feng Dagang, which employed the South Korean special effects team that produced "Taegukgi". This not only won the audience's recognition, but also made South Korean special effects "popular" in China. In recent years, grassroots collaborations have also emerged.

In the past two years, South Korean investment has also begun to enter the Chinese market. For example, the 2009 TV series "Sophie's Revenge" starring Zhang Ziyi received investment from South Korea.

In late September 2014, the first Sino-Korean co-production film led by South Korea after the signing of this agreement, "My New Sassy Girl," officially began filming.

"Back to 20" is also a product of this agreement.

"Back to 20" was originally supposed to be released in 2014 along with the Korean version of "Miss Granny".

However, the director Chen Zhengdao, who was selected for the project at the time, still had post-production work on "The Great Hypnotist" to finish, so filming of this movie was delayed by half a year.

As a result, "Back to 20" was released six months later than "Miss Granny," leading people who were unfamiliar with the "one book, two films" concept to initially believe that the film was a shameless plagiarism.

The production company on the Chinese side is also quite wronged.

Of course, this book does indeed contain instances of "plagiarism".

The film's structure is actually inspired by the American film *17 Again*, but that film tells the story of a 40-year-old man's emotional journey: at a low point in his life, he longs to return to his 17-year-old self to change the mistakes he made back then. By chance, he actually returns to his youthful 17-year-old self, becomes classmates with his own children, and even becomes a popular figure at school thanks to his extraordinary "basketball talent" (actually years of experience). But ultimately, when faced with a similar choice to his younger self, he makes the same choice he made back then.

The film undoubtedly uses a lighthearted and enjoyable comedic atmosphere to discuss a series of more serious topics such as family, career, midlife crisis, youthful dreams, generation gap, and responsibility.

However, the various elements are combined very well, making it a very successful commercial film.

"Miss Granny" can be considered a South Korean gender-swapped version of that film.

The plot is simple: Wu Moshun, a 70-year-old grandmother who has worked hard all her life, is disliked by society and her family, except for her neighbor, Old Man Park, who is devoted to her. One day, her daughter-in-law suffers a heart attack because she can't stand Wu's bad temper, but is saved by timely rescue. For the sake of her daughter-in-law's health, the whole family decides to send her to a nursing home.

Before her death, Mo-soon thought that she was getting old and probably didn't have much time left, so she went to a "youth photo studio" to take a portrait for her funeral. Unexpectedly, when the shutter was pressed, she became 50 years younger and turned into a 20-year-old girl named Oh Doo-ri, which triggered a series of hilarious events.

This is the kind of movie where you can basically guess the ending just by watching the beginning.

Returning to youth, the combination of a youthful body and an old mindset is bound to create conflict and generate various comedic moments. Oh Doo-ri not only helps her grandson, Pan Ji-ha, achieve his dreams, but also sparks a romance with music director Han Sung-woo.

But as expected, an accident happened – her grandson was in a car accident. Because of his rare blood type, the hospital's blood bank was running low. Wu Douli, who had the same blood type as her grandson, was eager to donate blood, but her son stopped her on the way.

He recognized his mother and stopped her. His mother had a life full of hardship and never truly enjoyed life, even in her old age. He wanted his mother to be happier, to pursue her own happiness, to be her true self, and not to sacrifice her life for her son and grandson again.

Wu Moshun, who regained her youth, did not hesitate because of her youth. She donated blood without hesitation to save her grandson, but she herself returned to an old age.

This is a heartwarming film that perfectly aligns with the values ​​of the Confucian cultural sphere in East Asia.

The Chinese version of "Back to 20" has a plot that is almost identical to "Miss Granny," but it has been further adapted for the Chinese market and is a relatively rare heartwarming film in China.

The film, titled "Original Timeline," was released in mainland China on January 8, 2015, and ultimately grossed 3.64 million yuan at the box office.

Despite being released six months later than "Miss Granny," and with most people already familiar with the plot, this film still managed to achieve such high box office returns, demonstrating just how much the market craves this type of story.

As for the latter, "Flying Colors," it is a Japanese film adapted from a true story, telling the story of Sayaka, a high school girl with poor grades, how she overcame difficulties, worked hard, and was admitted to Keio University (a prestigious university in Japan).

该片于2015年5月1日在日本上映，2016年4月14日在华国内地上映，最终内地票房3744.9万元。

I really don't understand it. In this era of rapid globalization, how could Japan come up with such a bizarre move as to release the film in mainland China almost a year later?

It's likely a countermeasure from mainland China—because Japan claims it's to protect its domestic film market, meaning any foreign film that wants to be released in Japan will have to wait almost a year longer than it would in its home country.

These 2D movies, once released, are usually available for free online in mainland China very soon.

Despite this, it still managed to gross nearly 40 million yuan at the box office in mainland China, which shows that Chinese people really like this story.

A prodigal son turns over a new leaf, works hard, and gets into a top university in China in just one year... This kind of realistic, satisfying story really hits the sweet spot for Chinese people!

Moreover, these are all considered chick flicks, known for their low investment and high returns, making them the preferred type of self-produced films for newly established film companies!

So, since he didn't know which movie to choose for the premiere, Liu Taile simply decided to do them all.

Whichever movie is completed first will be released first.

"Are they all remakes with purchased rights?"

Looking left and right, Wang Changtian asked in surprise.

"Yes."

Liu Taile nodded. "Back to 20 is a remake of the American film Back to 17, with a script rewritten to suit our country."

"The movie 'Flying Colors' is based on a true story from Japan. I had read related reports before and contacted the parties involved to purchase the film and television adaptation rights."

Well, because there have been too many examples of Chinese films being "taken without permission" in the past, Liu Taile was afraid of future trouble, so he simply spent money to buy the remake rights to "Back to 17".

With the script for "Back to 20" completed, we can also produce the TV series "Back to 17" in the future!

The script is already available; we just need to adapt the TV series of the same name from the original timeline in South Korea.

As for "Flying Colors," in the original timeline, in Japan, besides the true story, there is also a novel called "The Story of a Girl from the Bottom Class Getting into Keio University on Her First Year of High School," written by Nobutaka Tsubota, the teacher who helped the real-life inspiration, Sayaka Kobayashi, succeed.

The book was originally published in 2015, and after its publication, the movie "Flying Colors," adapted from the novel, was released.

But the novel hasn't even been released yet, so Liu Taile simply sent someone to contact the story's prototype, Sayaka Kobayashi, and obtained the film and television adaptation rights.

In fact, for other people, obtaining the copyright would probably not be so easy.

Fortunately, Liu Taile is a world-class celebrity, so once the money was secured, the copyright issue became relatively easy to resolve.

Wang Changtian greatly admired Liu Taile's approach.

After briefly glancing at the outlines of the scripts, he put down the book and said in a deep voice, "Lightroom will invest in both of these projects."

Upon hearing this, Liu Taile smiled gently.