I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Since it was the first day of work, Lu Ban didn't assign any formal tasks. Instead, he let everyone get to know each other and the work environment, and also arranged housing for employees who didn't have a place to live.

After settling things at the company, Lu Ban went to the office building of Jiangcheng Industry.

Here, he met with an AMC theater manager, a Chinese American named Thomas Lee.

AMC is one of the world's largest cinema chains. In comparison, Jiangcheng Cinemas of Jiangcheng Industry only has a significant influence in the Southeast region, while AMC firmly occupies the European and American markets. In addition, there are smaller cinema chains such as Empire Entertainment Group and Kemanlai Cinemas. These are the main forces in the overseas film market. If Lu Ban wants his film to be released simultaneously overseas, he needs to contact these cinema chains and persuade them to provide a release date and screening schedule.

In the domestic market, Lu Ban's box office appeal is already very strong. After all, there are not many directors who can make two movies with box office revenue of more than 2 billion yuan in a row, let alone a niche genre like horror and thriller.

However, Lu Ban's reputation is not as strong in overseas markets.

A domestic box office of 2 billion yuan is only a little over 300 million US dollars overseas. Many films far exceed this number. In the eyes of people who are not familiar with Lu Ban, Lu Ban is just a decent commercial film director.

In addition, due to differences in domestic and international market preferences, many films that are popular domestically are not actually well-received abroad.

Leaving aside neighboring island nations, aside from blockbusters like superhero movies, the most successful films are mostly animated. Many domestically popular crime and comedy films don't perform well at the box office abroad, and military films with a certain national character are virtually nonexistent overseas.

Prior to this, the highest-grossing Chinese-language film overseas was a martial arts movie with a box office of $210 million, followed by a historical war film with a box office of $140 million, and only $80 million.

Foreigners mostly prefer kung fu movies, period martial arts war films, and even movies from island nations where horror films are popular don't receive good reviews in Europe and America, their biggest box office markets. For those straightforward foreigners, traditional horror styles are less appealing than chainsaws and flying blood.

Lu Ban's task is to initially persuade the theaters to acknowledge his film.

In the reception room of Jiangcheng Industrial's office building, Lu Ban met Thomas Lee, who had grown up abroad.

"Mr. Li, I brought you some small gifts."

Lu Ban placed the bag on the coffee table and took out its contents.

"These are DVDs of my two previous films. I think that no matter what the outcome of our collaboration today may be, you can watch my films for entertainment."

Chapter 285 Admitting Defeat

The meeting between Lu Ban and Thomas Lee was not ideal.

The main issues lie in the distribution of revenue and the number of screenings.

Lu Ban envisioned the best release date as the New Year's Day period around Christmas, which is six months from now, enough time for his team to complete the film production and provide the master tapes.

Moreover, Christmas is equivalent to the New Year for foreigners, and there are many holidays during that time, resulting in a large number of moviegoers. In China, there is also the New Year's Day holiday, which would also attract a large audience.

However, this period is also very important for foreign cinemas, and may even be the most important period, similar to the Spring Festival in China. They bring out the strongest films, and it would be unreasonable to show a "foreign" film at this time. The cinema shareholders may not agree.

Lu Ban's fame is still not enough.

The distribution of profits is quite straightforward.

After deducting certain special business taxes and special funds, more than 50% of the remaining box office revenue for domestic films goes to the films and cinemas. Thomas Lee wanted to increase this percentage, aiming for over 60%, close to 70%, in the revenue sharing.

Lu Ban wasn't particularly interested in money, but this mission required a revenue of 5 billion. If he could get 5 billion in box office revenue domestically, then the remaining half would have to be covered by overseas revenue. According to a 40/60 split, he would need to get around 900 million US dollars in box office revenue overseas, which was already a huge number that far exceeded previous domestic film records. If it was a 30/70 split, Lu Ban would need to get 1.2 billion US dollars in box office revenue.

The extra 300 million yuan is more than the box office record set by a domestic film overseas.

Lu Ban was not some irrational, arrogant madman. On the contrary, he considered himself just an ordinary filmmaker, without any exaggerated skills or genius-like camerawork. Apart from the subject matter and the immersive power of his films, they were not much better than others.

Therefore, in order to complete the mission safely, Lu Ban would definitely want to reduce the difficulty for himself.

Fortunately, this was only the first meeting and not a final decision. Thomas Lee would stay in the country to talk to several other companies. Lu Ban wasn't in a hurry. He believed that if Thomas Lee wasn't just a good-for-nothing who only talked big, he would definitely investigate Lu Ban's works. After seeing these works, he certainly wouldn't let Lu Ban's works be shown in other theaters.

at the same time.

Thomas Lee was also quite troubled.

As the manager of AMC Cinemas in China, he was responsible for importing Chinese-language films.

In the past, during the 1980s and 90s, the main films imported were from Hong Kong, including some police and gangster films and zombie films. Later, kung fu films became the mainstream, and a number of kung fu actors went to Hollywood to try their luck, which set off a craze.

However, with the decline of Hong Kong films and the rise of mainland films, importing them has become much more difficult.

First, there is the cultural difference. Many kung fu movies in the past had simple plots, which were popular with Western audiences. They were satisfied with just watching the flashy fights.

However, many later domestic films placed greater emphasis on ideology and content. Themes such as national hatred, family feuds, and historical changes became the main themes of kung fu movies. Chinese people felt excited watching martial arts masters beat up foreigners, but foreigners felt a little uneasy watching it.

In fact, according to Thomas Lee's understanding, what Western audiences actually want to see is the mysterious, classical, simple, and backward world of the East, just like civilized people observing people from primitive tribes.

In the minds of many Western audiences, the East is backward. Therefore, most films that depict the East as modern and powerful are not well-received by Western audiences.

Not to mention that in recent years, the film market has seen many blockbuster movies that even Chinese people don't like to watch, let alone foreigners.

Importing films is becoming increasingly difficult.

Thomas Lee has talked to several companies in the past few days, but he is not very satisfied with any of them.

Although there is still time, we haven't been able to reach an agreement, and we can't finish our performance targets.

That evening, he returned to his home in Yannan.

He turned on the TV, wanting to find some movies to watch.

At that moment, Thomas Lee remembered the disc that Lu Ban had given him earlier.

He knew Lu Ban, the director, who was the top horror film director in China. His box office was terrifying in the horror film field, and many Europeans and Americans also liked Asian horror films.

However, Thomas Lee cannot appear to value Lu Ban too much; he must be appropriately firm in his approach to lower the price.

Based on Thomas Lee's previous work, he should have kept the theater revenue share at 60% and the screen time at around 5%.

During the festive season of Christmas, horror movies aren't as popular, though that might not be the case for Halloween.

However, the final result will depend on the quality of the final product.

Thinking of this, Thomas Lee, who had never seen Lu Ban's movies before, took out the disc of "The Cry" and put it into the projector.

He wanted to see why this movie was such a box office success.

Two hours later, Thomas Lee sat stiffly on the sofa, unable to move.

His expression was stiff and ferocious, his eyes wide open.

A scratch was left on the sofa armrest, a result of his instinctive reaction caused by excessive fright.

Thomas Lee has watched many horror movies, especially those from Asia, and he used to really like zombie movies.

But now, the feeling this movie evoked in him was no less than the fear he felt as a child when he was forced to go to the hospital for injections.

Thomas Lee was defeated.

Thomas Lee only came to his senses after the production credits were finished and the movie ended.

He realized that because he had been tense, all his muscles relaxed now that he was relaxed.

This includes some things that shouldn't have been relaxed in the first place.

"...fuck!"

Thomas Lee felt the damp, warm liquid on the sofa and couldn't help but swear.

He tried to stand up, but his weak legs wouldn't allow him to move, and he failed.

He sat back down.

"..."

It took Thomas Lee another ten minutes before he was finally able to get up, change his clothes, and clean the living room. He looked at the second box of CDs that Lu Ban had given him and fell into deep thought.

"No wonder a movie like this can achieve such high box office returns in the country."

Thomas Lee remarked.

In today's increasingly complex audiovisual experience, it's become very difficult to provide people with such a horror movie experience.

Humans ultimately still crave thrills.

Moreover, this experience is... very special; Thomas Lee has only experienced it in Lu Ban's movies so far.

This unique experience could very well be the key to his films' huge success overseas.

"I just don't know if this is the only one of his works that's this good, or..."

Many directors exhaust their talent with their first film, rely on their past achievements with their second, and eventually fade into obscurity. Lu Ban's upcoming third film makes it hard for Thomas Lee not to have doubts.

Of course, Thomas Lee now has the idea of ​​bringing Lu Ban's two films to overseas markets as well. Although the box office may not be very high due to the time constraints, it may serve as a prelude to building momentum for Lu Ban's third film.

"Let's watch this second movie first."

Thomas Lee had already put the disc into the projector, but then looked at the sofa.

He decided to change into a swimsuit to take a look.

Chapter 286 has been fully explained to you.

Three days later, at the end of May, Lu Ban received a call from Thomas Lee.

"Mr. Lu, I have seen your movie."

Lu Ban already knew the purpose of the call from the first sentence the other party said.

"how are you feeling?"

Lu Ban moved at a leisurely pace.

"I...I don't understand, but I'm deeply impressed. Your film is truly amazing. I've never, ever seen such a unique horror film before. It felt like I was actually in it. As for the special effects, I never knew that domestic special effects teams could create such effects..."

Thomas Lee was still somewhat dazed.

"Excuse my intrusion, Mr. Li, which one did you watch?"

Lu Ban asked a question.

“I’ve seen them all, Mr. Lu. I’ve seen both movies, as well as your previous works. All I can say about these works is that they are geniuses, simply geniuses. It’s hard to imagine that someone could make such movies.”

Thomas Lee was not stingy with his praise.

"You saw it all... The reaction was indeed quite severe."

Lu Ban muttered to himself.

"what?"

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you enjoyed my movie."

Lu Ban replied with thanks.

"...Actually, there was nothing particularly enjoyable, but the tingling sensation on my scalp, and the subsequent relaxation, made me feel thoroughly satisfied. Perhaps this is the meaning behind people's pursuit of horror movies."