Chapter 948

In one breath, so many projects have been put on the horse.

Although it is not that they all have to start preparation and production in one breath, and all meet the audience next year or the year after, such a large volume can be said to have projects for the next five to ten years.

For a film and television industry that changes so much, almost no second person will be like Lu Yan He, directly arranging projects until five years later.

So far, basically as long as it is Lu Yan He's project, there has never been a mid-way collapse or a delay in broadcast and release.

Even Lu Yan He's overseas projects, except for *The Mist* series, all other films have been introduced, and can even squeeze into all important schedules except the Spring Festival, becoming a unique existence among overseas films.

Lu Yan He arranged the projects in Linghe Theater almost properly before he had time to talk to Hollywood about the projects he announced on Weibo.

Those projects, except for *The Fault in Our Stars*, which made Soren regret endlessly because of the great success of *The Notebook*, basically all other projects are big productions, and the investment will not be small.

No film company can eat it all completely.

Of course, even if there is a behemoth that can eat it all, Lu Yan He will not put all his eggs in one basket.

Only with competition can his own value be maximized and guaranteed.

Lu Yan He took out the first project and let Hollywood companies quote.

Let them grab a round first.

This project is *Fast and Furious*.

Actually, *Fast and Furious* was not a particularly popular project at the beginning.

The first film, global box office 200 million dollars.

For a film with a production cost of 38 million dollars, it was naturally a big hit and a big profit.

However, the global box office of the second film was still only 230 million dollars, with very little growth. Not only that, in fact, in terms of North American box office alone, it still fell. The second film was because the overseas box office exceeded 100 million.

Especially by the third film, the box office fell further, with the North American box office only remaining at 60 million dollars, and the global box office only 160 million dollars. At this time, the production cost of this film has risen with all series of films to around 80 million dollars.

It can be said that it was almost about to be cut in half.

Fortunately, the fourth film, this series ushered in a key film that came back to life.

A production cost of 85 million dollars in exchange for a global box office of 360 million dollars.

The selling point of this film was initially on the very street element of racing.

Later, it began to become big scenes of gangs, spies, saving the world, etc., and even cars could be driven to space—

However, the audience just eats this set.

Many people think that this film is because of *Fast 7*, because of Paul Walker's death, that gave this film series huge value. However, in fact, if it were only because of this incident that *Fast and Furious* succeeded, this film would not have been filmed to 7 at all.

It can only be said that this incident made this film rank among the top IPs from a successful commercial film series.

One film sold for 1.5 billion dollars.

Lu Yan He is a die-hard fan of this film series.

He himself loves it very much.

Of course, he didn't start entering the pit of this series from 1.

He entered the pit from *Fast 7*, and then went back to complete it from 1.

Lu Yan He feels that this film is very suitable for Li Zhibai.

And for the character played by Vin Diesel, Lu Yan He plans to refer to Will Smith to find him.

There is still some difference between the body shape of Westerners and Asians, and Vin Diesel is of the robust type, too robust, which will make Li Zhibai look like a "weak chicken." This is Lu Yan He's consideration—

The one most interested in *Fast and Furious* is Soren.

Soren even offered a production budget of 120 million dollars.

As long as Lu Yan He is willing, no matter what this film eventually becomes, he can make a big profit.

However, what Lu Yan He values most is no longer money.

Lu Yan He proposed that companies wanting to compete for this *Fast and Furious* project, besides the regular production budget, also need to provide another A-level production lead for Li Zhibai—

The premise is that Li Zhibai likes it and is willing to act.

This requirement... how should I put it, is more or less a bit excessive.

And Lu Yan He said bluntly: "Then there is no way. Li Zhibai is my friend, and I want him to become a global superstar. I not only take *Fast and Furious* for him to act in, I also want to make this IP into a series. Then I want to take an A-level production lead from your hands for him to act in, so what?"

Lu Yan He's words were extremely straightforward.

These people in Hollywood, on the contrary, had nothing to say.

However, because of this requirement of Lu Yan He, several first-tier companies in Hollywood fell into hesitation.

Each company's A-level production, there are only a few every year.

Each company's production budget is also only that much.

Of course, if their cash flow is insufficient, there is also a very mature cash flow system with bank loans.

However, in any case, any film company will attach great importance to the A-level production in its hands.

Once an A-level production appears to be a "big flop," it basically means the resignation of an executive responsible for the project. Using Li Zhibai as the lead is not as simple as a sentence.

*Fast and Furious* is exchanged for the lead of a small-budget project, they would definitely agree. Those projects are not in the company's strategic composition and do not need to shoulder some key KPI missions.

Lu Yan He's quote for the production budget of *Fast and Furious* is 50 million dollars, including his own 10 million screenwriter salary, and the global box office target he gave is 200 million dollars.

This is another conservative estimate.

Because he doesn't need to draw big cakes to attract everyone anymore.

He just needs to stabilize his "box office successology."

50 million dollars in cost in exchange for 200 million dollars in global box office—

This indicates that the profit space of this project will be at least 100 million dollars.

On-demand, TV broadcast, streaming broadcast, peripheral operation, IP operation... someone calculated that the profit of a mainstream Hollywood film, box office profit often only accounts for a small part.

While Hollywood was hesitating, calculating, and discussing how to negotiate with Lu Yan He, *The Fault in Our Stars*, which Linghe had been preparing for a long time, announced the start of filming.

The film director, Lu Yan He found Lu Yao, who had collaborated with Li Zhibai on *Washe*.

A very outstanding idol drama director.

The reason Lu Yan He knows Lu Yao is because of the drama *Washe*.

"*The Fault in Our Stars* is of course different from *Washe*. The former doesn't have a single bit of fantasy elements, but in my heart, the core of both is actually very similar, that is, the cherishing of life," Lu Yan He specifically recorded a VCR to cooperate with the opening promotion of *The Fault in Our Stars*. "Perhaps some people hear me say this and feel that I am pretentiously adding value, but I really think so. The difference between this romance movie *The Fault in Our Stars* and other romance movies is that the love in it is connected with life. It is warm and heartbreaking, but the essence is to let people feel the weight of life through the beauty of love, and in the name of love, let the perhaps short life become light."

At the opening scene, someone asked: "Was the role of the male lead intended for Li Zhibai at the beginning?"

Lu Yan He was not at the scene.

Li Yuefeng was pointed at directly.

Chen Yin, as the vice president of Linghe, said: "*The Fault in Our Stars* considered more than a dozen male leads. It was even intended to be produced as an American film at the beginning, starring an American male actor. It had nothing to do with Li Zhibai. It was Lu Zong who proposed that such a story could perhaps become a romance film produced by our Linghe for the global market, just like *Flypaper*. Of course, *The Fault in Our Stars* is all Chinese actors, unlike *Flypaper*, which also used many well-known foreign actors. Although this will make *The Fault in Our Stars* full of challenges in global distribution, the success of *Love is Not Blind* in overseas box office gave us confidence. Li Yuefeng and Yan Lingyu are the actors personally decided by Lu Zong, and they are also the two actors most suitable for this film."

A reporter asked: "The box office performance of *My Sassy Girl* starring Li Yuefeng before was not outstanding. Is Linghe not worried about the box office of *The Fault in Our Stars* domestically?"

Li Yuefeng's face was almost black.

Chen Yin asked back: "Where did the conclusion that the box office performance of *My Sassy Girl* was not outstanding come from? Talking about box office while setting aside themes, production costs, and market positioning is all hooliganism. I think not only every production company needs to understand this sentence of Lu Zong, but the media also needs to understand it. *My Sassy Girl* achieved such good box office results, including overseas box office, which also exceeded our expectations, but just because it was compared with the box office of other theme-type films, it looked a little less, so it was judged as not outstanding. Then I'm sorry, Linghe doesn't have such a view."

"Compared with *The Classic*, the box office of *My Sassy Girl* is indeed a big cut lower, isn't it?"

"*The Classic* relied on the classic nostalgic element to attract more than 30% of elderly audiences, so it created a box office miracle. If you want to compare with *The Classic*, how many romance films in the world can compare with it?" Chen Yin said. "Then Linghe's romance theme films will not be able to achieve a local box office of over 1 billion like *The Classic* in the future. Then we won't do romance theme films in the future?"

Chen Yin's response was very hard.

But his posture also made Li Yuefeng very moved.

The box office of *My Sassy Girl* even became a black spot on him, which was something he really didn't expect.

Chen Yin being able to refute those "lagging theories" so hard was undoubtedly a very powerful counterattack.

"In addition, what actors can carry the box office, what actors cannot carry the box office, believe me, it is definitely us production companies that pay the salary who know best," Chen Yin smiled. "If Li Yuefeng is an actor who cannot carry the box office, we Linghe keep collaborating with him, are we stupid and have too much money?"

The whole audience laughed.

Li Yuefeng himself laughed.

"*Grass Flying* second part, I won't return to star. We discussed the development space of this IP, and we decided to expand the world of this IP."

When Li Zhibai was eating lunch with Lu Yan He, he updated Lu Yan He on the progress of *Grass Flying*.

"*Grass Flying* second part tells the story of a very important force organization in the first part," Li Zhibai said. "In this way, Liu Manbo and the others don't have to wait for my schedule and can't start filming for a long time."

Li Zhibai has several plays next. If *Grass Flying* second part has to wait for Li Zhibai's schedule, it will indeed have to wait for a long time, and it may not be able to start filming the year after next.

Lu Yan He said: "Doing this can further expand the worldview of *Grass Flying* itself. In the long run, it is definitely a good thing."

"Yeah, I think so too," Li Zhibai said. "However, the *Fast and Furious* you mentioned before, do you really want to film this movie into a series that will be filmed for nearly twenty years?"

Lu Yan He nodded: "It will become the top commercial film series in this world."

Li Zhibai: "I don't doubt this point."

"You don't have to have pressure. This movie is absolutely built with you as the center," Lu Yan He said. "The filming time and rhythm will also be designed around your schedule. If you are tired of filming and want to rest for a while, it's fine. We can also stop for a few years."

A commercial film series, in Lu Yan He's mouth, became very willful, as if it could completely accommodate Li Zhibai.

But Lu Yan He just thought so.

Since Li Zhibai is a star by nature, he should take the path of a true superstar.

The characters he plays should be star characters with the largest audience groups.

With Li Zhibai's own charm and his talent in acting, his path—at least the path for the next five years, can completely be benchmarked against Tom Cruise.

Lu Yan He said: "Moreover, I also hope that you will participate in the production of this movie as a producer."

"Ah?"

"Believe me, for a long time to come, even if this movie has been filmed for two or three parts, there will be people whispering in your ear that the charm of this IP lies in racing, in those thrilling shots. But in fact, its core still lies in the fact that in this seemingly very routine, template-like racing movie, it has established several very key characters, making this film series gather a group of fans who love these characters and their fate. This is the most core place. I need you to participate as a producer because you need to build this movie with your feelings. Which actors you like, which character you find which actor to play, you have the best feeling. You are the fulcrum. If your feeling is right, this group of people will be established."

Li Zhibai: "... Damn, why do I feel like I've been kept by you? Is this the feeling of being kept by a big boss?"