Chapter 284

On May 5th, *The Promise* premiered in North America.

This film had its North American, British, and Australian rights bought by Harvey Weinstein at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

The investors of *The Promise*, China Film Group and Old Chen, had once publicly claimed that they sold the rights for 200 million, and Harvey Weinstein also promised to help *The Promise* attack the Oscars.

Unfortunately, last October, Miramax founder Harvey Weinstein left the company he had built with his own hands and formed a new film company, The Weinstein Company.

The copyright of *The Promise* inexplicably became that of The Weinstein Company.

When Harvey Weinstein was still at Miramax, because Miramax was acquired by Disney in 1993, he had tried to trap Old Mouzi's *Hero*, which led to Disney being taught a lesson in Hong Kong.

So Harvey Weinstein had restrained himself a lot—at least he didn't dare to trap big-name directors with influence in China anymore.

Now that Harvey Weinstein had gone independent, the first one to be unlucky was Old Chen.

After *The Promise* was released in China, according to the agreement, China Film Group and Old Chen went to Miramax to ask for the copyright fee and discuss the release in North America.

200 million RMB in copyright?

The person in charge of Miramax told China Film Group that the contract they signed was signed directly with Harvey Weinstein, and the copyright wasn't at Miramax at all.

And Harvey Weinstein said, that was the contract you signed with Harvey Weinstein of Miramax; what does it have to do with Harvey Weinstein of The Weinstein Company?

Both China Film Group and Old Chen were numb.

What does this mean?

Was our *The Promise* copyright sold or not?

If it was sold, who should we ask for the copyright fee?

If it wasn't sold, we clearly have a contract for the sale of copyright in our hands. If we sell it again, who would be responsible for the legal disputes? And because of this piece of paper, no one dared to buy it!

Finally, in December, Harvey Weinstein showed his true colors: 1 million dollars, take it or leave it; he just wanted to get it for free.

Plus, at the time *The Promise* was released, there was a chorus of scolding in China, and Old Chen's temper flared up: "Damn it, I won't sell it even if it rots in my hands."

Whatever happens, happens.

Anyway, I've already received a 500,000-dollar deposit. You say the contract is unclear? Fine, since the contract is unclear, you don't dare to release it either. I won't even release it in North America. These 500,000 dollars will be considered free money.

Now it was Harvey Weinstein's turn to be numb—a rascal had met a stubborn temper.

Just like that, it dragged on until January. Harvey Weinstein inquired from many sources and learned that Old Chen was playing for real, so he compromised.

Let's talk things over; shall we discuss the price of the copyright again?

Talk to your mother!

Old Chen insisted that he would rather let the copyright rot in his hands than sell it to him.

In the end, Harvey Weinstein compromised. 500,000 dollars is also money—you return the 500,000 to me, and I'll sign a copyright purchase termination agreement for you.

Last time Old Chen and Sister Hong came to the U. S. to attend the Golden Globes, they had another purpose, which was to talk about copyright with Warner Independent Pictures.

Warner Independent Pictures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures, responsible for the purchase and distribution of art-house films and independent films, the same nature as Sony Pictures Classics of Columbia and Fox Searchlight of 20th Century Fox.

It wasn't until February that the two sides negotiated the terms. Warner Independent would take over the North American distribution affairs for *The Promise*, and the two sides would sign the contract during the Berlin Film Festival.

Warner Independent would re-edit the film and produce a 102-minute version for release in North America, with the release date set for May 5th.

According to the agreement, as long as certain conditions were met, the release scale would gradually expand on May 12th and May 26th, eventually reaching a scale of 1,300 theaters in 66 cities across the U. S.

Initially, because Warner Independent only planned a small-scale release in 213 theaters, they didn't plan to hold a premiere ceremony. However, when they heard that Old Chen could invite Cao Yang, Warner Independent changed its mind.

On May 5th, *The Promise* was released on a small scale in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Boston in the United States.

On this day, Warner Independent held a premiere ceremony for *The Promise* in Los Angeles that wasn't too large, inviting some directors and stars who had fixed cooperation with Warner.

Old Chen and Sister Hong came to Los Angeles at the beginning of May and were still staying at Cao Yang's house.

May 5th is considered the beginning of the summer vacation slot. Logically speaking, the release window for *The Promise* was very good.

But things have two sides; a good release window also means great competition.

According to information Cao Yang understood, there were quite a few blockbusters released on this day, among them *Mission: Impossible III* starring Tom Cruise.

At the premiere of *The Promise*, not only did people from Warner Independent come, but several executives from the parent company, Warner Bros. —one of the Hollywood Big Seven—also came.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, they had preliminary contact with Cao Yang, revealing their interest in Cao Yang's novel *Gravity*.

Since people from Warner were interested in this novel, they must have understood the content.

So Cao Yang asked: "Do you have any specific plans? Although this novel has a single scene, because it takes place in space, the cost of shooting it won't be low."

Ian Howard is a vice president at Warner, in charge of the production department. He said: "Our department has roughly calculated based on the novel's scenes. Believe us, we are professionals; the budget cost won't disappoint you."

Cao Yang nodded. This was just preliminary contact; the other party might not have made up their mind, and Cao Yang might not necessarily give them the copyright, so they were all very cautious in their speech, without revealing any intention of showing their cards.

Cao Yang estimated that the other party was waiting for the box office of *Zhu Nuo*, and perhaps they would also wait for the box office of *Inception*, which had a larger investment scale, before finally making up their mind.

In Hollywood now, comic book films haven't become mainstream yet. For a big production with an A-level investment scale that isn't a sequel, everyone is still very cautious.

A big production dragging down a film company is not just talk.

Even for the Hollywood Big Seven, if an A-level big production with an investment of over 100 million flops, it would hurt their vitality and affect subsequent investment plans.

Of course, caution is caution, but if Cao Yang's *Zhu Nuo* box office sells well, and *Inception* can also sell well, then they would be much less passive when negotiating terms than they are now.

Although *The Promise* was a small-scale release, since a premiere ceremony was held, the leads certainly had to come to promote the film.

Old Chen's influence in South Korea and Japan is very large. With a call from Old Chen, South Korea's Jang Dong-gun and Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada all put down their work and came to the United States to promote *The Promise*.

They believed that with Old Chen's fame and influence, plus the previous big sales of Old Mouzi's *Hero* and Cao Yang's *The Nine-Tailed Fox* in North America, *The Promise* would certainly be able to have good results.

On the contrary, Hong Kong's Nicholas Tse didn't come to promote the film, citing that he was filming.

However, Cecilia Cheung did come.

After the premiere of *The Promise*, Old Chen decided to split into two groups to promote the film. He personally took South Korea's Jang Dong-gun and Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada to New York, Chicago, and Boston to promote it.

He let Sister Hong take Cecilia Cheung and stay in Los Angeles to promote for two days, and then go to San Francisco to promote depending on the situation.

In the evening, Cao Yang invited Cecilia Cheung to stay at his house. There was no other meaning; it was mainly because Old Chen had left, and it wouldn't be good for him and Sister Hong to stay together.

It was still necessary to avoid suspicion.

When Cecilia Cheung heard Cao Yang invite her to stay at his house, she was stunned for a moment, looked at Cao Yang with deep meaning, and then actually considered it seriously for a while before nodding and agreeing.

It made Cao Yang feel a bit baffled. If you want to go, go; if you don't want to go, don't go. Did it really need to be considered for so long?

At night, Cao Yang didn't know what time it was; he seemed to hear a knock on the door in a daze.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a slender figure slip directly into his room.

Cao Yang was stunned; only then did he see clearly that it was actually Cecilia Cheung.

At this time, Cecilia Cheung was only wearing a set of translucent pajamas.

This is?

"Miss Cheung, you?"

Cecilia Cheung saw Cao Yang staring at her, smiled embarrassedly, then puffed out her chest, closed the door, and said: "Cao Dao, am I late?"

"Hmm?"

"I was afraid of coming too early and being seen by Sister Hong, so I came a little late."

As Cecilia Cheung spoke, she took off the translucent pajamas she was wearing outside.

Thus, what came into Cao Yang's eyes was that she was left with only a palm-sized pair of panties on her whole body.

However, besides the panties, she had a rose pattern with leaves tattooed on the lower right side of her navel, where it connected to the bikini line; it was very conspicuous.

Her figure was beyond reproach.

Probably seeing that Cao Yang didn't speak, Cecilia Cheung walked over directly, wrapped her arms around Cao Yang's neck, and said with a smile:

"Cao Dao, I'm not one of those little actors or little wild models in Hong Kong; I don't usually accompany guests. But you are a great director, young and handsome, so I'm still quite willing."

"Oh? Oh."

Cao Yang finally understood. No wonder she had that expression when he asked her to come to his house today; it turned out she had misunderstood.

By the way, is the entertainment industry in Hong Kong this direct?

However, aren't you and little Nicholas currently dating? It seems you are getting married in September, and now you are still... fine, Cao Yang then thought of Edison.

People can still play very hard after they get married.

The room Sister Hong stayed in was a bit far from Cao Yang's master bedroom, but it was on the same floor.

Cecilia Cheung's knock on the door had been very careful, but it was still heard by Sister Hong.

She was also a bit strange at first, wondering why there was a knock on the door so late, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

Getting up to go to the bathroom, Sister Hong couldn't sleep for a while, worrying about *The Promise* in her heart, wondering if it could sell well in North America.

(End of chapter)