Chapter 249: Negotiation

Marco Müller stayed in Beijing for one day and took a copy of *Black Swan* with him.

This year's Venice Film Festival will be held from August 31st to September 10th, with a little over a month left. As the Venice Film Festival chairman, he still has many things to deal with.

Moreover, Cao Yang gave him face by shooting an extremely outstanding film to help him establish his authority, so he must certainly try every means to fulfill Cao Yang's "small" wish.

Cao Yang didn't follow him; with Old Ma there, he no longer needed to go over in advance to operate like before; Old Ma might even value it more than he does.

Several film companies in Europe and those in the US certainly won't rush to leave. Their purpose in coming is first to befriend Cao Yang, and second for the foreign rights of *Black Swan*.

Over the next few days, Cao Yang contacted several companies one by one. Overall, they all agreed that this film is very likely to win the Venice Golden Lion; otherwise, the Venice Film Festival chairman wouldn't have come to see the film in person.

However, winning an award is one thing, and the price after actually winning the award is certainly different.

Considering that this is Cao Yang's film, they raised the offer almost to the price of the rights for an art film after winning an award.

For other domestic directors, this is certainly full of sincerity, and the offer is also a "sky-high price."

But for Cao Yang, he is still a little dissatisfied.

Let's put it this way: even if this film doesn't win the Golden Lion, as long as it can win a slightly important award in Venice, relying on Cao Yang's fame, it can sell for almost the highest current offer.

Moreover, Cao Yang is also thinking about whether he can win the Golden Lion and then get a Venice Best Actress award for Dong Xuan; if so, the offer will certainly rise by another one or two million, of course, in US dollars.

He also understands a little why those film companies dare not raise the price again; after all, no one can guarantee that you will definitely win the Golden Lion, and they don't know that this is a film "custom-made" by Old Ma.

Since the price cannot be negotiated, let's talk after the film festival.

If they hadn't called and taken the initiative to come, Cao Yang hadn't intended to let these film companies come in the first place.

The deal hasn't been reached yet, but Han Zong is a little regretful; that's a rights fee of tens of millions of US dollars. It's not about how much money it is; the previous co-production *District 9* made a lot of money for China Film Group.

It's that this represents a different meaning.

*District 9* sold well globally and broke the domestic box office record, which is a major highlight on Han Zong's resume.

*Black Swan*, as a low-investment art film, can sell for a sky-high rights fee before it is even released, which is also a very good highlight on the resume.

However, Han Zong is only slightly regretful; he believes in Cao Yang's decision.

Moreover, Han Zong has another happy thing.

*Crazy Stone*, which only invested a little over 30 million including promotion, has achieved a staggering 130 million box office in the 13 days since its release.

This box office certainly cannot compare with Cao Yang's *District 9*, nor can it compare with the 101.3 million box office of *Nine-Tailed Fox* in seven days, and it is also a bit worse than Old Mouzi's *Hero* with 100.7 million in seven days.

However, how much was the investment in *Crazy Stone*?

It just depends on whether Xu Ke's *Seven Swords*, which will be released tomorrow, will explode.

Given the current market situation, if *Seven Swords* can sell well, it will certainly squeeze the box office of *Crazy Stone* crazily, and whether it can finally reach 150 million is an unknown.

However, if *Seven Swords* is affected by *Crazy Stone* and is countered, given the word-of-mouth of *Crazy Stone*, it might really be able to rush to 200 million box office.

Of course, in any case, Ning Hao can be considered an overnight success.

Although everyone says he succeeded by standing on the shoulders of a "giant," this does not affect the media's reporting and pursuit of him at all.

After all, directors with a box office of over 100 million in China these days are really very rare.

Cao Yang is one, and Old Mouzi is one.

Feng Dao's *A World Without Thieves* was blocked by Cao Yang's *District 9*. Han Zong told Cao Yang privately that the final box office was only a little over 90 million, but the announcement released by Huayi claimed that the box office was 102 million.

Okay, barely count Feng Dao.

That's only three.

Plus two special ones.

Zhang Xinyan, who directed *Shaolin Temple* in '82, this film is indeed extremely awesome; it was driven to a box office of 160 million by our ordinary people with ticket prices of 0.1 to 0.2 yuan!

In fact, the situation at that time was a bit special; special reasons led to the extreme lack of spiritual and material life for the people of the whole country. Not to mention televisions, many places in the country, especially rural areas, were not yet connected to electricity.

Even in the very few places with electricity, power outages were frequent.

Kerosene lamps and candles were the main lighting equipment.

Plus, even if there were film screenings, they were mainly mainstream themes. Films like *Shaolin Temple* were extremely fresh; most people couldn't imagine that there were such films, and they were all shocked.

That kind of madness is hard to imagine for those who haven't experienced it.

There is also Yu Benzheng, the director of *Life and Death Choice* released in '00; the final box office of this film was 120 million.

The reason why this film is special is that it is a mainstream anti-corruption drama, and it was heavily booked across the country at that time, so the box office was so high. In short, Ning Hao can be considered to have made a name for himself.

Of the three film companies that came from the US, according to Cao Yang's observation, Sony Pictures Classics is the most sincere, Miramax wants to pick up leaks, and by the way, see if they can "buy" the rights to other films in the country.

Fox Searchlight has other purposes.

As the president of Fox Searchlight, Peter Rice came in person for two purposes: one is to see if he can buy the rights to Cao Yang's *Black Swan*, and the second is to discuss the release of *Zhu Nuo* with Cao Yang.

Fox Searchlight is a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, specializing in the production and distribution of low-cost art films and independent films, with a positioning similar to Sony Pictures Classics.

After *Zhu Nuo* was completed, there was a disagreement within Fox Searchlight about the release time.

Some people think that they should take the opportunity of Cao Yang's *District 9* explosion and the heat of *Inception* to invest heavily to increase publicity and let *Zhu Nuo* be released in the summer file.

Some people think that the content of this film is controversial, but precisely because of this, it counts as a kind of political correctness and has great potential for winning awards.

Instead of spending a lot of money on publicity, it is better to spend money on the Oscars, attack the Oscars, and then as long as you can win an award at the Oscars, it is very likely to explode the box office.

Peter Rice wants to attack the Oscars, so he has been suppressing *Zhu Nuo* from being released.

!

However, if you want to attack the Oscars, it is best to get Cao Yang's support so that it can play a role at critical moments, which is why Peter Rice came in person.

In addition, as long as Cao Yang supports *Zhu Nuo* in attacking the Oscars, even if it is only verbal support, Peter Rice's pressure will be reduced a lot.

"Rice, do you want an Oscar nomination, or will you operate the awards?"

Cao Yang asked this helmsman of Fox Searchlight, wanting to know his determination.

The reason he asked this is because an Oscar nomination is one thing, and an award is another.

That is to say, if you want an award, you may have to spend more than getting a nomination, sometimes even two or three times as much.

If Fox Searchlight only wants a nomination, there is not much difference from throwing this money into publicity; the effect is about the same, and it may not even be as effective as throwing it into publicity.

If you want to spend more money to operate the Oscars, there is one point: it doesn't mean you can win an award just because your money is in place.

Maybe several times the money is spent, and you only get a nomination, and you don't get any awards in the end.

Peter Rice spread his hands and smiled, replying: "Of course we want an award, and we have already made preparations for this."

"Okay, since you have made up your mind, I can stand up for *Zhu Nuo* at the appropriate time."

Cao Yang agreed to Peter Rice.

This film was shot completely according to the script, and Cao Yang also enjoys 20% of the global box office and subsequent dividends. Fox Searchlight is willing to operate the Oscars, so he has no reason not to support it.

Peter Rice laughed and shook hands with Cao Yang, and then asked: "The rights to *Black Swan*?"

Damn, the rights fee wasn't paid in place, and they still want to buy the rights. These capitalists really want to hit two poles whether there are dates or not.

"Rice, I need sincerity."

"Okay, okay, my dear Director Cao Yang, Searchlight is already very sincere. You have to be clear that the Golden Lion is not so easy to win," Peter Rice said with a smile.

"That's for others."

Cao Yang learned to shrug his shoulders like a foreigner and said unceremoniously.

With foreigners, you can't be too humble and polite, because they will take your humility and politeness as a lack of confidence.

This point is completely different from Eastern philosophy; this is determined by different values.

When Cao Yang said this, Peter Rice became much more serious. He considered it carefully and said:

"Searchlight can add another 500,000; this is already a price we are very sincere about. After all, *Black Swan* hasn't won an award yet, and we are also gambling."

"Don't be under pressure, buddy, and don't make things too difficult for yourself."

Cao Yang stood up and patted the old white man on the shoulder, "Maybe after the Venice Film Festival, I'll be willing to lower it by a million; you can wait a little longer, good luck."

Peter Rice considered it and actually nodded, "You're right; instead of taking a risk, it's better to wait another month. Good luck to you too."

At the end of July, the 62nd Venice International Film Festival announced the list of films entering the main competition unit.

In addition to Cao Yang's *Black Swan*, there was another Hong Kong film that entered the main competition unit, which is Stanley Kwan's *Everlasting Regret*.

This film is said to be a Hong Kong film, but in fact, the production company is the Shanghai Film Studio, but the director and behind-the-scenes staff, as well as the main male and female leads, are all Hong Kong people.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 250 =====