Chapter 177: European Copyright

Cao Yang spent a week at the Youth Film Studio working on post-production. The post-production for *Nine-Tailed Fox* was actually mostly finished; he spent these past few days mainly checking for omissions and filling gaps.

During the time he was away, the staff helping him with post-production hadn't been idle, and he needed to see if it aligned with his own ideas.

On March 12th, *Milk* will be released domestically.

The popularity of this film domestically goes without saying, but after China Film Group imported it, they still spent a lot on promotion—you have to let people know when this film is being released.

These promotional expenses weren't for promoting the film itself, but to let people know the release date.

Current promotion isn't like later times when the internet occupied a large proportion; the mainstream now is still dominated by television, newspapers, and print advertisements.

So, in the few days before the film was released, whether it was television, newspapers, or billboards on the streets, they all started a mode of round-the-clock bombardment.

The meaning was simple: tell potential audiences that *Milk* is about to be released, on March 12th.

North America is also releasing it on March 12th; because of the time difference, they are one day behind the domestic side.

However, Europe is different.

At the time, Cao Yang considered himself a "newcomer" just entering Hollywood and was afraid of being cheated by Hollywood, so he didn't ask for a share of the box office profits, only asking for the European copyright.

*Milk* not only won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in Europe but also won Best Picture at the Oscars. Cao Yang hadn't sold the European copyright because he was waiting for the Oscars; who doesn't want to sell for a bit more money?

The European art-house film market and the commercial film market are two different things. Why do they value art-house films and band together into a small circle?

Because in the commercial film market, they were long ago slaughtered by Hollywood and turned into its backyard.

With the backing of an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Actor, *Milk* can not only mix in the European art-house market but also make money in the mainstream commercial film sector.

mk2 is an art-house theater chain and definitely couldn't eat *Milk* all by itself, so they teamed up with Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, which mainly does commercial films and distribution, to jointly purchase the copyright.

13 million USD!

The distribution copyright for all of Europe.

Having the backing of the Oscars is just different; it can be released on a large scale across Europe, rather than being shown for a long time in relatively fewer art-house theaters like typical art films.

Cao Yang referenced previous films that won major Oscar awards and felt that *Milk* selling for 30 or 40 million in Europe wouldn't be a problem.

Traditional European powers like the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia don't have low domestic box office numbers, and this is also Europe's largest source of box office revenue.

So 13 million is a relatively fair number, and it still leaves a decent profit for the two companies.

Cao Yang can estimate box office numbers by referencing past films, and the two film companies lingering in Europe definitely have more reference data; after discussing it, they accepted this price.

However, they proposed one condition.

They felt that the gimmick of a global simultaneous release was very good, and since it's currently the time when the Oscars are being discussed the most, they were willing to have a simultaneous release in Europe on March 12th.

However, they wanted Depp, who had won the Oscar for Best Actor, to come to Europe for some promotion.

This was definitely no problem; when actors sign contracts, there are clauses for cooperating with film promotion.

Although Cao Yang didn't take a box office share for *Milk*, selling the European copyright alone for 13 million USD—this was his personal income and didn't need to be split with the film company.

Added to the 2 million USD remuneration Cao Yang received as the project initiator and producer, as well as director and screenwriter, he received a total of 15 million USD in pre-tax income.

Actually, that's not a small amount.

Europe's time is ahead of the domestic time.

The film is released in Europe first, so interested parties can know the general plot of *Milk* in advance. The executives at Baidu and Tieba are interested parties.

The "Cao Yang Bar" is currently very popular, already having over a million members. This exploded and grew rapidly after the Oscars, to the point that it drove more people to pay attention to Tieba.

Of course, this is also inseparable from Baidu throwing money at operations; they complement each other.

Although they are still throwing money these past two days, the momentum of member growth has already slowed down.

How can they make it explode again?

After the film was released in Europe, the executives at Baidu and Tieba quickly had an idea.

Putting the film plot aside for a moment, some of the scenes in it, if posted in the "Cao Yang Bar," would definitely be explosive!

The person in charge of operating Tieba tried to contact China Film Group, wanting to reach some private agreement.

In his mind, I'm also helping you, China Film Group, promote the film, and it's free promotion. The "Cao Yang Bar" is so popular and will become even more popular; you should be happy about it...

However, he was disappointed.

!

What kind of enterprise is China Film Group?

A behemoth in the film industry.

Although they have also started trying to promote films online, they mostly just cooperate with portal websites to release some interviews and press releases, but this is not mainstream promotion.

What was Baidu at that time?

At the beginning of 2004, Baidu was already very popular and counted as an emerging large internet enterprise, but it hadn't gone public yet.

In the end, in the eyes of the executives at China Film Group, so what if you're a large emerging internet factory? You're still a private enterprise.

Want pictures of a film that hasn't been released yet?

What are you thinking? Why is your face so thick? If the pictures leak out, what will happen if the leaders blame us?

What if Director Cao is unhappy?

Besides, who doesn't know what you, Baidu, do? Aren't you just a company that privately steals and uses files, pictures, and videos without authorization?

The message didn't even reach Han Zong's level before it was rejected without hesitation.

The person in charge of operating Tieba had no choice but to report to Boss Li.

China Film Group didn't give them face, and Boss Li didn't feel there was anything wrong with that. State-owned enterprises are like this these days, especially behemoths with "China" in their name; they are even harder to deal with.

Boss Li didn't give up. His connections were much stronger than the person in charge of operating Tieba, and through his connections, he easily contacted Han Zong.

Regarding this matter, if it were an ordinary film, posting some pictures to promote it would be normal, but since it involves Cao Yang and this film that won the Oscar for Best Picture, he found it hard to make a decision.

Consequently, he was vague and ambiguous, leaving it for you to guess.

Boss Li was also puzzled. He had already explained to Han Zong that they definitely wouldn't post the pictures in the name of the official Tieba, but would post them as individuals, and after a while, the official side would delete them.

But what was Han Zong's meaning?

Just give a straight answer whether it works or not.

If it weren't for the special nature of this film, if it weren't for the fact that this is Cao Yang's film, and if it weren't for the sake of promoting the "Cao Yang Bar"... Tieba would have long ago privately gotten some pictures from Europe and done it themselves.

Boss Li was afraid of angering Cao Yang. Not only would the higher-ups be unhappy, but he was even more afraid that Cao Yang would stand out in the media and boycott the "Cao Yang Bar." Then the "Cao Yang Bar" would be finished, and accordingly, Tieba would also go into a slump.

Baidu plans to go public in the US next year. At this time, any strategic mistake is highly undesirable.

Boss Li thought for a while and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. I don't want to offend Cao Yang, does Han Zong have this concern too?

Then why not contact him and try?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 178 =====