Chapter 805

Huang Zhongjing really respects Lu Yanhe.

Although there is a saying that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

In reality, few people will actually do so.

This really can't blame others.

However, Lu Yanhe being able to take Linghe to this step in a few years is not just relying on the success of each of his projects, but also because while having ambition, goals, and decision-making, he can also sacrifice part of his own interests, not looking at immediate gains and losses, and then using resource exchange to trade for opportunities to sit at the table time and time again, and finally, successfully biting off a piece of the cake.

The "resurrection" of the "Burning Fire" movie series in the international market completely taught him a lesson—

What Lu Yanhe had been emphasizing before, that this movie has greater value, meant what.

Actually, did Huang Zhongjing not know that the "Burning Fire" movie series was done very well?

Of course he knew.

Did Huang Zhongjing not want this movie to sell for a better price overseas and get better distribution conditions?

Of course he wanted to.

However, he couldn't do it.

Chinese film companies are weak in overseas negotiations.

Linghe can be strong because it was accumulated by works like "Home Alone".

Long Yan doesn't have such accumulation.

Moreover, Huang Zhongjing himself didn't think deep down that the movie "Burning Fire" could achieve such good box office results.

Too many times of high ambitions but returning in defeat—

The goal of Chinese films wanting to achieve good box office overseas is not a matter of this year or two at all.

Long Yan, a company mainly focused on producing commercial films, doesn't know how many times it has tried.

It is precisely because he has tried that he knows very well how difficult it is to succeed.

Others simply won't stand on a fair scale to distribute movies for you.

Huang Zhongjing said: "It's not that no one like Lu Yanhe has achieved success in the international film scene before, nor is it that no one has had the right to speak in front of international film production companies, but there are too few who can expand every advantage obtained further like Lu Yanhe."

Mrs. Huang said: "Actually, it all boils down to the fact that his accumulation of a large amount of early capital as an actor, and his scripts succeeding one after another, his luck is too good."

"There is no successful person who doesn't rely on luck, but if you only see luck because of this reason, that would be too terrible." Huang Zhongjing said, "Who dares to say their success is 100% reliant on themselves? Even Long Yan's success doesn't dare to say that."

Mrs. Huang sighed.

"Don't know how to say it, anyway I just don't like him very much. I've seen too many successful, temporarily successful young people, proud, arrogant. You all say Lu Yanhe is humble, but in my opinion, there is no one more arrogant and dismissive of everything than him." Mrs. Huang said, "He just succeeded, that's all."

Huang Zhongjing smiled.

"In the future, let me handle the dealings with him on Long Yan's side." Huang Zhongjing said.

"Didn't you say that a long time ago?" Mrs. Huang said.

"Because of Lu Yanhe's efforts, Long Yan finally has a movie series with decent box office performance in the overseas market." Huang Zhongjing said to Mrs. Huang, "Before you adjust your mindset towards him, I hope you don't have any contact with him, I'm afraid you'll offend him."

Mrs. Huang was dumbfounded.

Subsequently, Lu Yanhe sat down with Huang Zhongjing to discuss the performance agreement for "Burning Fire 3", including the follow-up plans for the "Burning Fire" movie series.

Huang Zhongjing took out an agreement and sent it to Lu Yanhe.

"Yan He, this time I don't just want to invite you to continue starring in 'Burning Fire 3'. Actually, I know you will definitely be willing to return for the third part. You are a very responsible person with a sense of responsibility, you will let this series have a beginning and an end."

"You let the 'Burning Fire' series go up a level this year and sent a big gift to Long Yan, I am very grateful. I also hope that our fate in the 'Burning Fire' series is not limited to these three parts."

"I want to invite you to serve as the co-producer of the 'Burning Fire' movie universe, and also invite Linghe to participate in the development of the 'Burning Fire' movie universe."

Lu Yanhe looked at Huang Zhongjing with surprise.

"I hope to make the 'Burning Fire' series into a Chinese fantasy blockbuster known to the whole world."

"Originally, I didn't dare to have such thoughts, but now the results achieved by the first and second parts of 'Burning Fire' overseas have given me confidence again."

Lu Yanhe didn't speak.

Lu Yanhe was actually not surprised that Huang Zhongjing would have such thoughts at this time.

It's just that Lu Yanhe himself was thinking about whether to consider Huang Zhongjing's proposal.

After thinking seriously for a long time, Lu Yanhe said: "Mr. Huang, how about we discuss the third part first? The movie universe is a big thing, it can't be explained in a short while."

"Okay, of course." Huang Zhongjing said with a smile, "Let's talk about the third part first."

"We know that your salary in Hollywood has reached the level of 10 million USD base salary plus dividends." Huang Zhongjing said, "Actually, I want to give you such a salary directly, now the box office performance of 'Burning Fire' can afford such a salary, but because Yongzhou is still there, although he told me several times that he doesn't mind your salary being higher than his."

"Well, I also hope to maintain balance." Lu Yanhe said, "I don't want such a gap to appear between my senior brother and me, even if we don't mind, others will make an issue of it, especially those marketing accounts. But, Mr. Huang, I also hope that my senior brother and I won't suffer losses."

"Understood, of course I won't let you suffer losses. If Long Yan were a company that squeezes and exploits actors, how could it have reached today." Huang Zhongjing said, "I will give you both a base salary of 20 million, however, there are some differences in box office dividends, overseas revenue sharing, and character derivative product revenue. In addition, in the third part, we also reserved 10 million in investment shares—prioritized for you or Linghe."

For a movie series like "Burning Fire" where the first and second parts have already achieved box office success, being able to take out 10 million in investment shares for Lu Yanhe and Linghe for the third part is actually just giving away a money-making opportunity for free.

This is also Long Yan's compensation for Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe is still very satisfied with the attitude Long Yan showed this time.

Chen Ziyan also said: "This time they are finally no longer stingy."

Chen Ziyan asked: "Then do you want to continue participating in the 'Burning Fire' series?"

Lu Yanhe said: "I haven't thought about it yet, but, how to say, that sentence you said to me at the time touched me very much."

"What did I say?" Chen Ziyan asked.

"This movie series, no matter what, has already been linked to my acting career." Lu Yanhe said, "If you hadn't said this to me at the time, I might not have thought about saving the overseas box office of 'Burning Fire' again under those circumstances later."

"Will you continue to participate in the filming of the 'Burning Fire' series later?"

"Who knows, not necessarily." Lu Yanhe thought of Robert Downey Jr., thought of the "Detective Conan" theatrical version that gets more popular as it gets older, "But, still the same saying, this movie is the best Chinese movie I have seen so far in terms of visual effects. If I could help it go further and didn't do so, I would regret it."

Chen Ziyan nodded.

"Then go do it." Chen Ziyan said, "If you have already reached your level and still can't do whatever you want in your work choices, then how boring. You are right, if there is a movie that can really represent the level of China's film industry and the aesthetic style of this type, and go to win the love of the whole world, but in the end it didn't happen, it would be too regrettable."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

Chen Ziyan said: "Then do it."

"Won't it be thankless?"

"With me here, I won't let you be thankless." She said calmly, "Do you think I would let them do something like killing the donkey after the mill is finished?"

Lu Yanhe laughed.

"It's still good to have you here."

Huang Zhongjing's attitude towards Lu Yanhe didn't say a 180-degree turn, but it did indeed and substantially become respectful.

This is of course because Lu Yanhe brought tangible benefits to Long Yan.

Huang Zhongjing wants to tie Lu Yanhe to the "Burning Fire" series, just because he saw Lu Yanhe's tangible help to "Burning Fire".

He is afraid that Lu Yanhe won't help later.

Once Lu Yanhe stops supporting the "Burning Fire" series, will Green Valley still distribute "Burning Fire" like this?

Huang Zhongjing is to ensure that the "Burning Fire" series can still have good performance overseas, so he must stabilize Lu Yanhe.

Then what if Long Yan relies on itself to open up all the joints overseas later and feels it can kick Lu Yanhe out?

Chen Ziyan smiled and handed the revised cooperation agreement to Huang Zhongjing.

And just at this time, the release date of "Corpse Image" also arrived.

For this movie, Li Yuefeng shot eight magazine covers in one go, five of which were domestic magazines, which were handled by his own resources.

The other three were overseas, which had both the media resources of the Jump Up Group and the efforts of Linghe and D19 behind them.

Domestic magazines were mainly fashion magazines and film magazines, "Jump Up" didn't even put him on.

Foreign magazines were all thriller and horror types.

Exactly the target audience of "Corpse Image".

"Corpse Image" is also the only movie with horror elements during the Qingming Festival.

Before the release, the pre-sale of "Corpse Image" had already exceeded 20 million RMB.

This is the best pre-sale performance among the box office movies starring Li Yuefeng.

There were competitors smearing, saying that "Corpse Image" is just a small-budget movie, crudely made.

Linghe immediately posted: Linghe produces movies, the cost can be very small, the quality is not reduced at all. It's not about how much money is spent on filming, it's about how much money is needed to film, spend that much, not a penny more.

There were competitors of Li Yuefeng smearing him, saying that Li Yuefeng lowered his salary to strive for cooperation with Lu Yanhe, and was filming at a beggar's price.

This is also the reason why Li Yuefeng can film so many of Lu Yanhe's movies.

Li Yuefeng responded personally: Lu Yanhe asked me to film, not a penny of salary has been less for me. Many people asked me to film, all gave friendship prices, but only Lu Yanhe really didn't give me a friendship price, all were market prices.

Immediately someone retorted: You have the nerve to say, Lu Yanhe gave you so many roles, you don't give him a friendship price.

Li Yuefeng: Replying to you with a sentence Lu Yanhe once said to me, how much money is given, how much work is done, not short of money, what friendship price, if a small budget is made by exploiting friends for friendship prices, this is not called a small budget, this is called taking advantage.

Immediately, media and marketing accounts broke the news that Li Yuefeng took a lot of his private resources to promote this movie.

For example, his brand resources, for example, appearing on shows, playing trailers on shows, etc.

The implication is that although Li Yuefeng didn't take a friendship price, he also put in a lot of things himself.

Lu Yanhe accepted an interview with the CCTV Movie Channel, and the reporter also asked about this matter.

Lu Yanhe said generously: "I have always told my friends that if I am really short of money for filming, or if this movie is for artistic value, without box office space, I will definitely not be embarrassed to ask them to give me a friendship price, or even act for zero salary. But honestly, for the movie 'Corpse Image', do you say I have no box office expectations for it? If not, why would I ask Li Yuefeng to act? Do you say the company is really strapped for cash making this movie? Linghe has made quite a lot of money in the last few years. So, there is no need to be stingy. I can say directly, Li Yuefeng's salary accounts for a large part of this movie's production cost. The movie cost is small because it doesn't need to spend that much money in production to be done very well, and Li Yuefeng is the biggest market selling point outside the movie's theme and story, so why should I make him a cheap actor? You say it's worth it, isn't it worth it?"

Lu Yanhe added: "Li Yuefeng is not a calculating actor. After watching the movie 'Crocodile', he even told me that he liked it so much that he specifically wrote a review for his acting coach, and said that if there is such a movie in the future, he must act. I said, if you act in such a movie, you really can't use your star status to get the market price, because for such a movie, no matter how big the star is, the ability to attract audiences to the cinema is limited. His reaction was, actors can't make no money on every movie, but there is no need to make money on every movie. This is what I like about him, he never avoids letting others know his utilitarianism, but he is not only utilitarian."

On the first day of the release of "Corpse Image", the domestic box office was 31 million, ranking third in the Qingming Festival, with a decent performance, no dark horse posture, but it is also a pretty good result.

However, adding the performance of several overseas markets, it's different.

420 theaters in North America, taking 850,000 USD on the first day.

Japan rarely released simultaneously with other markets, because Li Yuefeng's fame in Japan is not low, coupled with proper promotion, the first day also directly opened a box office of 970,000 USD.

Adding up several markets, "Corpse Image" achieved a good result of 2.72 million USD overseas.

From the feedback on the first day of the market, this movie has box office potential.

Therefore, D19 immediately added promotional resources for "Corpse Image", including preparing to expand the number of theaters in the first week—

The premise is that Linghe agrees to hand over the distribution rights of "Corpse Image" in other European markets to them as well.

After Linghe's research and judgment, they immediately agreed and signed the agreement.

Giving up part of the benefits in exchange for greater returns.

This is the purpose that Linghe has always implemented.

If Linghe negotiated the distribution rights one by one for "Corpse Image", perhaps the final profit would be greater.

However, Linghe wants D19's greater promotional resources and distribution conditions.

Because the returns it can get in the future have a higher ceiling.

And D19's increased investment can have positive feedback in various markets—

Media attention and discussion can form dissemination on a global scale.

Especially in this internet era, social media intertwines information.

As long as a certain scale of discussion is formed, attention will come.

While striking while the iron is hot, several other markets are preparing to release.

This time, Linghe negotiated distribution conditions with several markets, focusing on their promotional efforts for this movie in the local market.

Especially requiring a premiere attended by more than five mainstream media.

At this time, what Linghe wants is the "face" of "Corpse Image".

Using face to shape its international blockbuster image.

In one week, "Corpse Image" relied on the three days of the Qingming Festival to take a total of 157 million at the box office. While Li Yuefeng's crowd of black fans sang doom, Linghe was issuing battle reports and good news every day.

Even when Li Yuefeng's black fans went under Linghe's official blog to complain that they were blind, asked Li Yuefeng to star, and deserved the poor results, Linghe directly retorted openly:

When did a box office result of 157 million become a flop? Talking about box office value while setting aside production costs is hooliganism, you know? A small-budget movie led by a well-known actor like Li Yuefeng can exchange for a box office of 157 million in one week of release. This box office appeal, which film company is blind and can't see.

Li Yuefeng was stunned.

Linghe would stand up for him and speak for him so openly, it was something he didn't even dare to think about when he collaborated with other film companies before.

Because every film company would worry that if they said one wrong word, they would get into trouble and affect the stock price.

Unfortunately, Linghe has no stock price.

Doesn't care at all.

Chen Yin specifically instructed the company's promotional and public relations department to support Li Yuefeng openly and clearly.

But the reason is actually not that noble. Chen Yin considered that Li Yuefeng has collaborated with the company on so many projects, the greater Li Yuefeng's value, the greater the value of these projects.

Not to mention that after "Corpse Image", there is another "My Sassy Girl" to be released.

How could Chen Yin watch Li Yuefeng be smeared by black fans.

However, the signal conveyed in the entertainment industry was not like this.

For actors, this is the film company protecting Li Yuefeng.

To be honest, when black fans attack an actor for not carrying the box office and poor results, what is a more powerful reply than the production company standing out and saying that this actor's value is extremely high.

In fact, this is also the reason why Linghe requires other markets to require "face".

Face means—

Awesome, good results.

"But in this way, it seems difficult for 'Corpse Image' to break 100 million USD at the global box office."

"Why must it break 100 million." Chen Yin said so, "Do you really think we are all dark horse movie, small-to-big production factories? Every movie can achieve miraculous small-to-big, right? The production plus promotion cost of 'Corpse Image' does not exceed 5 million USD, now the global box office is 30 million USD, isn't that good enough?"

Especially when it was released in the second week, D19 suddenly announced that it had won the remake rights of "Corpse Image" and would remake it into an English movie.

D19 is a big player in horror thriller movies, and it is also the distribution company of "Corpse Image" in North America and several other markets.

Being favored by D19, can't this explain the success of this movie?

Can it be favored if it's not successful?

Are they stupid?

Is their capitalism blind, and you are the clearest?

Some controversies stirred up by "Corpse Image" did not affect Lu Yanhe.

Anyway, these controversies are nothing more than the box office results being ordinary, not as good as the results achieved by "Buried" and "Home Alone", etc.

Anyway, Linghe has said everything that should be said.

There are always people who turn a blind eye and pretend to be blind, you can't correct it, wait for him to hit a telephone pole and he will know he is blind.

Chen Yin sent a message to Lu Yanhe, saying he wanted to produce the second part of "Corpse Image".

Lu Yanhe was curious and asked, any ideas?

Chen Yin said, no ideas on the story, but wanted to use this to solicit contributions globally and solicit good stories.

Lu Yanhe asked: Why do this?

Chen Yin said: Because the copyright of "Corpse Image" is particularly popular, seven or eight overseas film companies are contacting and asking about adaptation rights.

Lu Yanhe was stunned.

Chen Yin said: After chatting, I found that it is mainly because the production cost of this movie is very low in any country, and the global box office performance is not that outstanding, it is not a movie story that everyone is familiar with.

Lu Yanhe understood immediately.

He thought of a movie called "Perfect Strangers".

That is an Italian movie, and because of its innovative theme with very modern significance, it is being remade all over the world, and it is one of the movies with the highest remake rate and remake success rate.

The reason why it can be so is actually because the production cost of the movie is very low in any country.

A house, a group of actors, that's enough.

And it is very suitable for adaptation.

Lu Yanhe said: What does this have to do with developing "Corpse Image 2"? I thought you wanted to do it because you had a good story idea.

Chen Yin said: It is actually a gimmick, to stimulate more audiences around the world to go to the cinema to watch 1.

Lu Yanhe heard this, thought about it and understood.

Soliciting stories for 2 globally, if this news can stir up some splashes as desired, many screenwriters, directors, novelists, and even people who love writing will go to see what 1 is like.

These people go to see it, then it is very likely that the relevant enthusiasts around them will be radiated.

Lu Yanhe: Two-pronged approach.

Chen Yin: Is it feasible?

Lu Yanhe: I don't know if it's feasible either, let's try.

Therefore, Chen Yin took out 1 million USD and issued a "Corpse Image 2 Solicitation Notice" in twelve media and magazines around the world, from the "New York Times" in the US to the "Literary Weekly" in Japan.

Major global media issued it one after another, such a dissemination effect is still very exaggerated.

The box office of "Corpse Image" was also indeed stimulated.

Lu Yanhe came to the United States, with