Chapter 206: New Project

The North American opening weekend box office usually includes the box office revenue from Friday to Sunday; this is one of the box office indicators that Hollywood studios value the most.

Since most new films choose to release on a Friday, the opening weekend box office—that is, the revenue from Friday to Sunday—is called the "opening weekend box office" or "opening gross."

October 1st, 2004, happened to be a Friday. Harvey Weinstein, taking advantage of the buzz surrounding Cao Yang winning Best Director at Venice, chose to release *The Nine-Tailed Fox* on this day, simultaneously with the domestic release.

This time, Harvey learned from the experience of the *Hero* release. No longer cautiously testing the waters, Miramax directly arranged for 2,460 theaters, wanting to see if they could create another box office miracle.

In North America, Cao Yang's fame and influence were both far greater than those of Zhang Yimou.

However, since it was a Chinese-language film after all, Harvey didn't dare to hope for too much; as long as the box office could be on par with *Hero*, or even a little less, he would be satisfied.

After the three-day opening weekend, *The Nine-Tailed Fox* did not disappoint Harvey, achieving a result of 20.36 million, surpassing *Hero*'s 17.80 million.

However, *Hero*'s 17.80 million had secured the weekly box office championship at the time, while *The Nine-Tailed Fox* could only barely make it into the top three.

The DreamWorks animated blockbuster *Shark Tale*, with an investment of 175 million USD, was also released on October 1st. It achieved a great result of over 47.60 million in its three-day opening weekend, taking the weekly box office crown.

Of course, relative to the investment, the ambitious DreamWorks was likely unsatisfied. According to experience, it would be very difficult for the North American box office to exceed 200 million; it would depend on whether the global box office could deliver.

Ranked second was the 60 million USD investment *Ladder 49*, also released on October 1st, which took in over 22.08 million in its three-day opening weekend.

In the second week, *The Nine-Tailed Fox* saw a somewhat large drop, taking in only 10.25 million USD, but it still ranked third in the weekly box office, behind *Shark Tale* and *Ladder 49*.

Seeing this result, Harvey was not disappointed at all. Instead, ignoring the time difference, he called Cao Yang immediately. Besides sharing the good news, he also said a long string of flattering words.

When finally hanging up, he repeatedly said he hoped Cao Yang could collaborate with Miramax on a film alone; the compensation, the awards, everything could be negotiated.

The reason Harvey was so happy was, of course, the box office of *The Nine-Tailed Fox*.

Don't look at the second-week drop reaching nearly 50%—usually, Hollywood films with very good box office numbers have normal drops between 35% and 45%—but one must understand that this was a Chinese-language film; being able to have this drop was already very strong.

Hollywood has its own calculation formula. Harvey roughly estimated that the film exceeding 55 million should be no problem; whether it could reach 60 million would depend on luck.

In other words, the North American box office alone almost allowed Harvey to recoup his costs, so how could he not be happy?

Cao Yang also didn't expect *The Nine-Tailed Fox* to perform so well in North America. It was likely his fame and influence, combined with *Hero* having just exploded, that made many foreigners want to experience a Chinese historical epic again.

Add in the Venice award and the two Best Actress winners in the film, and that was likely the sum total that led to this box office.

If he had known, he should have sold the distribution rights for more.

Of course, this was just a joke. For a pure Chinese-language film, wanting to sell higher distribution rights in North America, almost no Hollywood distributor dared to take such a big risk.

It was only Harvey, because *Hero* had just exploded, who dared to make this bet.

Zhang Weiping was almost tricked by Harvey and didn't dare to sell the rights for *House of Flying Daggers* to Harvey, so he could only sell them to Sony Pictures Classics.

According to the news he revealed, the European and American rights for *House of Flying Daggers* sold for 115 million—converted, that was less than 14 million USD, much worse than the rights for *Hero* back then.

Harvey had originally wanted to trick Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou, which is why he dared to offer such a high price to buy the rights for *Hero*.

The explosion of *The Nine-Tailed Fox* in North America further strengthened Cao Yang's influence, especially domestically; being able to open the Hollywood market with a pure Chinese-language film was truly a very difficult thing.

This further triggered a viewing craze; many people who hadn't planned to watch the film also had the idea of going to the theater. Many people subconsciously believed that a film that could explode in the US must be worth watching.

Cao Yang left the Beijing Film Studio and went to the office of Tian Zhuangzhuang in the Directing Department. He had already made an appointment with Old Tian to eat together later.

"I just went to Old Situ's office. I originally wanted to call him to eat together, but he wasn't in the office. Do you know where the teacher went?"

As soon as Cao Yang entered, he asked Old Tian, who was waiting for him.

Old Tian put down the book in his hand, stretched, and then said, "What would he be doing in the office? He doesn't teach anymore. Does he wait every day like a 'Waiting-for-Husband Stone,' waiting for you, the only graduate student he still has, to visit?"

He then added, "Heh, that's going to be a long wait."

Uh.

Cao Yang suddenly remembered that he was still a graduate student. Old Situ hadn't assigned him any homework, nor had he mentioned any academic requirements; it was almost a state of total neglect.

So, Cao Yang laughed and said, "Senior brother, guess, with my current 'free-range' state, will the school withhold my graduation certificate next year and not let me graduate?"

Old Tian rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Guess my ass!"

Look at how smug you are, talking about withholding your graduation certificate—how do you have the face to say such things?

If the Beijing Film Academy really dared to withhold your graduation, that would be great; you would definitely become famous overnight, and the kind of famous that is known all over the world.

Unless the top leader above had lost their mind, they would withhold the graduation certificate of a student who had won the Golden Lion and the Palme d'Or, as well as Venice Best Director, Cannes Best Director, Berlin Jury Grand Prix, and an Oscar for Best Picture.

What a jerk; you're probably showing off to me on purpose.

Thinking back to that student who was still cautious when he first met him, in the blink of an eye, he became a world-class director, winning awards until his hands were soft. Time really flew... flew my ass!

It had only been four years, not even half the time of his own banned director period.

Old Tian couldn't help but think, if he had softened his stance back then, would the ending have been different?

Forget it, he had this personality. Call it young and frivolous, or call it proud and arrogant; if he had softened his stance, he wouldn't be Tian Zhuangzhuang.

"What are you looking for me for? I'm very busy right now. I'm not only leading graduate students, but I'm also teaching undergraduates. I don't have time to chatter with you."

Cao Yang looked at Old Tian suspiciously. Was this stepping on his tail?

"Fine, since you're so busy, senior brother, I won't disturb you."

Cao Yang pretended to walk out, then shook his head and sighed, whispering to himself, "I'd better just go find Ning Hao. That young man is quite sensible; it's also good to just give the script to him."

"Hey, isn't this my junior brother? Junior brother, when did you arrive? Come, senior brother will treat you to a meal. I was wondering why I haven't felt right lately; it turns out it's because I haven't treated you to a meal in a long time."

Old Tian caught up to Cao Yang in a few steps, put his arm around Cao Yang's shoulder, and walked out, as if he had just happened to run into Cao Yang.

"Senior brother, I heard you're very busy right now, leading graduate students and teaching undergraduates. How do you have time to treat me to a meal? You definitely don't have time to listen to me chatter either."

"Sigh, junior brother, look at what you're saying. What graduate students, what teaching—none of these are as important as treating my junior brother to a meal."

The two of them walked out while bickering.

Although they said they were eating together, the two didn't go off-campus; they just ordered a few dishes at the small cafeteria. While eating, they didn't talk about the script, just some gossip in the circle and the box office of *The Nine-Tailed Fox*.

"I saw in the newspaper that the box office of *The Nine-Tailed Fox* has rebounded?" "It doesn't count as a rebound. The box office has stopped falling these past few days; it might be influenced by the North American box office."

Cao Yang picked up a piece of food and said while eating, "It's estimated that the news of the box office over there in the US spread, and once the media reported it, it made some people who hadn't planned to watch the film unable to resist going to the theater."

Old Tian put his chopsticks on the table and sighed.

"This is something that can't be helped. Some people just feel that Hollywood is authoritative; if it can explode over there, they feel your film is awesome. There's another group that feels the European Big Three are awesome; if it can win awards at the Big Three, they also feel your film is awesome. Domestically... sigh..."

"Old Tian, are you squeezing me or jealous of me? My film won awards at Venice and exploded in Hollywood; it occupies both. Do you have an opinion about me?"

Cao Yang joked.

He didn't know what was going on, but the older Old Tian got, the more he started to have endless worries.

Old Tian ignored Cao Yang's joke and just smiled bitterly, continuing, "Many people domestically have this mentality. I don't know when it will be corrected."

"It will get better."

Cao Yang didn't really want to talk about this topic; actually, there was nothing to talk about. This kind of mentality couldn't be corrected overnight; it would still take a not-so-short period of time.

!

"Old Tian, do you feel that you have no chance with the European Big Three, so you suddenly have an opinion about them? Didn't you used to be very keen on going to the European Big Three?"

Cao Yang continued to joke.

Old Tian picked up his chopsticks again and ignored Cao Yang's teasing.

Why have an opinion about the European Big Three? Why no longer feel the European Big Three are sacred?

Actually, it's very simple: because of Cao Yang, because of Venice Film Festival President Old Ma, Old Tian re-recognized the European Big Three and realized that the European Big Three were nothing more than that.

Every award can be gamed, and even the top prize can be booked in advance. This damn thing has had its underwear stripped off; what's sacred about it?

In Old Tian's view, the European Big Three still have a tiny bit of shame and can retain a bottom line, but sacred is far from being the word.

After the two finished eating, they returned to Old Tian's office.

"A while ago, when filming *District 9*, I talked to Ning Hao. He has a script concept called *Big Diamond*. I told him to write it out for me. How should I put it? It's a bit rough and not very mature."

When Cao Yang first got the *Big Diamond* script written by Ning Hao, he was truly taken aback. It was very different from the stunning *Crazy Stone* of later generations; not only was the script rough, but there were also many problems with the logic.

Ning Hao valued and cared about Yue Xiaojun so much in later generations largely because he valued his screenwriting talent, using it to make up for his own shortcomings in writing stories.

Is Ning Hao a good director? Of course he is, but he is similar to Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige; once he leaves a good screenwriter, the space for him to perform is limited.

His later works, without good screenwriters, became quite mediocre.

Cao Yang took a USB drive out of his pocket and handed it to Old Tian.

"His script called *Big Diamond* has no meaning if filmed. I rewrote one based on the original script's ideas, called *Crazy Stone*. It already has big changes from the original. You take a look first."

Old Tian took the USB drive, plugged it into the computer, and then asked, "Has that kid seen the new script?"

Cao Yang smiled and shook his head. "No, I wrote it and brought it to you first. After all, you are his mentor; it's good to help take a look first."

Old Tian opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he didn't say it.

He understood Cao Yang's meaning. Just as Cao Yang said before, if he was interested, he could co-direct with Ning Hao, or even push Ning Hao aside and direct it alone.

Thinking of Cao Yang's solemn tone before, this script should be very good, and the probability of success should be very high.

"His script was written poorly; you didn't scold him, did you?"

Old Tian asked. He understood Cao Yang; if Cao Yang valued Ning Hao, he would definitely scold Ning Hao severely.

"When I finished reading the script, I threw it directly in his face and scolded him, telling him to put more effort into the script and not think about little girls all day long."

"Ha..."

Old Tian laughed, then shook his head. He was actually quite satisfied with this graduate student, but he also had many small flaws. The most prominent one was one word: lecher.

He had a big heart for mischief and no small amount of guts.

"Multi-line narrative? Black humor?"

After watching for a while, Old Tian looked up and said softly, "A bit of the style of Kusturica and Guy Ritchie, and in terms of narrative, it's a bit like Tarantino."

"Yeah, *Big Diamond* wanted to go for this style, but there were problems with the logic, and the story wasn't told clearly. I kept the original style and framework and rewrote this script."

Old Tian closed his eyes and thought for a while, then let out a long breath. Opening his eyes, he had a feeling of relief.

"Junior brother, the script is written very well."

Old Tian smiled very frankly and gave Cao Yang a thumbs up.

"As for me, I actually don't have many thoughts anymore. I've seen through many things. The only thing I still have a thought about is passing down the theory I summarized from you."

He looked at Cao Yang with a smile and continued in a very casual tone, "I'll just be a nominal producer for Ning Hao. You definitely won't stay on the crew. I'll watch the people below for him and try to create a good environment for that kid."

Cao Yang stared at Old Tian for a while, then waved his hand and laughed.

"Fine, senior brother, you decide this matter yourself."

A few days later, Cao Yang called Han Zong, Hou Keming, Old Tian, and Ning Hao to launch the project *Crazy Stone*.

Cao Yang's studio controlled the project, invested half, and owned all the rights to *Crazy Stone*.

The Beijing Film Studio invested 20%, and China Film Group invested 30%, only enjoying the corresponding revenue brought by the film, with no rights.

Cao Yang and Tian Zhuangzhuang were producers; Cao Yang was also the executive producer and screenwriter, and Ning Hao was the director.

Cao Yang's producer, executive producer, and screenwriter fees were calculated separately.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 207 =====