Chapter 42: with translation of chapter title

When the Xianggang film market was booming, the film's rights were sold before the movie was even shot.

That year Wang Jing was on vacation, when the Xiang brothers called and told him to start shooting in seven days.

There was no script either; they just gave him ten words: Zhou Xingxing, Liu Dehua, and a trick specialist.

They said the rights had already been sold, and the film would be released during the Spring Festival, one and a half months later.

Wang Jing racked his brains, and with the help of Zhou Xingxing and Liu Dehua, the film's overall effect was not bad.

Although Haolaiwu doesn't rush production as much as Xianggang does, many films there also have their distribution issues settled before shooting begins.

Jiang Heng, however, is different—being too young and not a Haolaiwu director, the major distributors worldwide still don't trust him that much.

If they directly released The Matrix 2, with the first film's backing, everyone would naturally scramble to distribute it.

But for jumping on the bandwagon to make monster-type films, they would have to judge the film's quality before deciding.

Fortunately, the Neidi market performed exceptionally well, attracting distributors from Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan, who rushed in and collectively sold the rights for 9.85 million US dollars. Converted to RMB, that is roughly over eighty million, fully covering the film's "book" cost.

This result delighted all the leaders of Beiying Factory, including Han Sanping, immensely.

Once the cost is recouped, the rest is pure profit.

The Neidi box office is estimated at 200 million, and the share of revenue comes to roughly over seventy million.

If the box office performance in Beimei and Europe were a bit better, it would be pure profit after profit.

However, no one at Beiying Factory knows exactly how much those two markets will bring in, and Jiang Heng also feels a little uneasy.

After all, it's not a classic script passed down in film history, and it has been criticized by many netizens on MaoPao. Although the special effects scenes have received universal praise, whether it will win the favor of European and American audiences is known only to heaven.

But before he even set off, distributors from the UK, France, and other countries came to him, still offering to distribute under the same terms as The Matrix 1's profit-sharing agreement.

These people had obviously come after seeing the finished film's effect and market performance, which greatly boosted Jiang Heng's confidence.

And then, after Christmas and before New Year's Day, the first Haolaiwu company finally arrived—it was Universal Pictures.

Their offer was eight million US dollars, to buy out the North American distribution rights for "One Hundred Million Years BC".

Jiang Heng laughed angrily, "Eight million dollars? You're joking!"

Just based on this subject matter, and being a pure-effects blockbuster, even a casual release in Beimei would easily bring in thirty to fifty million dollars.

"Mr. Frank, you wouldn't be trying to buy my film, take it back, shelve it in your warehouse, and wait until after your Jurassic Park 3 is released to put it out, would you?"

Larry Frank froze for a moment, then laughed, "How could that be? Holding it for two or three years before selling, you'd probably not even recoup the buyout cost!"

"The problem is, if you hold it until then, it won't affect the box office of Jurassic Park 3, will it!"

Frank quickly waved his hands, "No, no, Mr. Jiang, you're really overthinking it. Although releasing too many dinosaur films in a short period can cause audience aesthetic fatigue, don't forget that Beimei is the world's top box office market—even one or two dinosaur films a year can still make money!"

Jiang Heng snorted, "Is that so? Then why do you guys space your films several years apart?"

Frank thought to himself, "It's not that we don't know how to shoot; using the same formula too often will surely bore the audience!"

As for innovation, we also don't know whether the audience will like it.

Speaking of innovation, Jiang Heng's new film "One Hundred Million Years BC" is, relative to Jurassic Park, also a different path; we just don't know if the audience will buy into it.

Universal Pictures' thinking is, anyway, there's no way to stop your film from being shown in Beimei.

Rather than that, we might as well try it ourselves first—eight million dollars is not a small sum in the Mandarin film market, but in Haolaiwu you couldn't even hire a first-line star with that.

Although the plot of "One Hundred Million Years BC" is somewhat weak, after all, having Jiang Heng, Wu Yanzu, and Li Meiqi as publicity gimmicks, and the special effects are not bad either—if it could gross around one hundred million, it would be profitable.

Unexpectedly, despite Jiang Heng's young age, he is not easily fooled; after an afternoon of talks with no result, they had to leave empty-handed.

Next up was Columbia Pictures.

The two sides had cooperated happily the previous year, having already signed a profit-sharing distribution contract for the Matrix series; Vice President Pascal had once even considered signing Jiang Heng over.

In the end, the two parties didn't see eye to eye and failed to reach an agreement.

To release "Ten Thousand Years BC," they would have to renegotiate cooperation.

This time, the visitor was again the same person from last year, Douglas Wick.

"Director Jiang, you've really given me a tough problem this time!"

"How so?"

"Your film's special effects are truly excellent, better than Jurassic Park's. But the plot is somewhat poor; I'm really afraid that a wide release would result in terrible box office performance!"

Jiang Heng laughed, "With that expectation, that's exactly why we want profit-sharing distribution! If we sold it outright and the final box office collapsed, wouldn't we be screwing you over? I'm the kind of person who would never do something that screws a friend."

"I understand, and I trust your character. It's just that this film has us torn apart—if it were a sequel to The Matrix, I wouldn't be so worried!"

Jiang Heng thought to himself, "Nonsense, the profit-sharing distribution contract for the Matrix sequel has already been signed—why would you still be worried?"

The two engaged in a battle of words, neither yielding, and after talking for a full morning, they still signed an agency distribution contract under the Matrix's release terms.

The reason, naturally, is that they still have confidence in the film's box office performance.

Douglas Wick brought the signed contract and the English-language source back to the United States, where he met Amy Pascal, who had already been promoted to president.

"Madam President, that Jiang Heng is really a tough nut to crack—no matter what I say, he refuses to lower his terms, insisting on using the Matrix's profit-sharing ratio and refusing a buyout. Seeing his firm stance, and with several other companies involved, I went ahead and signed the contract with him."

Pascal recalled her previous conversation with Jiang Heng and still felt a bit resentful: "That guy is stubborn and greedy; he's bound to suffer a big fall someday. This time, let him get some advantages."

Pascal had only recently been promoted to president, and her performance pressure had surged.

She had originally intended never to act as agent for Jiang Heng's monster film, but as the year-end approached, after thinking it over she still agreed—without her blessing, Douglas Wick wouldn't dare lightly sign such a profit-sharing contract.

"By the way, have you seen his new film? How did it perform?"

Douglas Wick hesitated a moment, then said, "I can only say that the special effects scenes completely blow away Jurassic Park!"

"Film is a holistic art; you can't make big money just from outstanding special effects!"

Yet Wick recalled the scene he saw during undercover visits to some theaters in Jingcheng—countless boys and girls, parents and children all flocking to the cinema!

He doesn't know what their genuine reviews were after watching it, but the film's huge box office sales are real!

(End of chapter)