Chapter 81 Reactions from all parties
Chapter 81 Reactions from all parties
"Congratulations to Director Zhang for winning Best Horror Film and Best Director. This seems to be the first time a Chinese film has won these two awards at the Saturn Awards."
Pitt was very generous. Zhang Chen originally thought that New Line would be a little resentful. After all, the two horror films they submitted for selection failed to win any awards, but the award for Best Horror Film was won by an outsider, Zhang Chen. They would definitely feel uncomfortable.
But it didn't.
"Thank you, and congratulations to your company for winning multiple awards for The Lord of the Rings 3."
Zhang Chen also gave a compliment at the right time.
Personally, he is the biggest winner of the night, but from a company's perspective, the biggest winner is New Line.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" directed by New Line won five major awards tonight, including Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Makeup, and Best Special Effects.
Best Makeup and Best Special Effects are small awards, but the remaining three are big prizes. New Line is undoubtedly the biggest winner tonight.
"Director Zhang, have you ever heard of our New Line Company?"
With Zhang Hongwei's translation, the two chatted intermittently.
"Of course, like many small companies, New Line also started out as a distributor, mainly targeting low-cost horror films from Europe and China. Later, it gradually got involved in production and began to invest in horror films, the most famous of which are The Butterfly Effect and Final Destination series. I remember that your company seemed to have been acquired by Time Warner?"
“Yes, we were indeed acquired by Time Warner, but we retained the autonomy to operate the film. However, there is one thing I need to correct: we are no longer just a company that produces horror films.”
“I know you also produced Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour series.”
"Haha~"
Peter was very happy to hear Zhang Chen knew this: "I was the one who led the Rush Hour series."
Pitt is obviously very proud of this, and he deserves to be proud of it. Only two "Rush Hour" films have been made so far, but both have ranked among the global box office charts.
The first film cost 3000 million yuan, but its box office reached an astonishing 2.5 million yuan, which really surprised the investors.
The second film increased its investment, with a cost of 9000 million yuan, and grossed 3.5 million yuan at the box office. Cheng Long also completely established his foothold in Hollywood and established a special position in the field of action films.
"Then I have to congratulate you for launching a successful series for the company."
Zhang Chen's compliment made Pitt's mouth almost grin from ear to ear. He had a unique vision and chose to work with Jackie Chan, who was not a Hollywood actor, and it turned out to be a great success.
This is almost a legend in their company, and Pitt's status in the company has risen because of the "Rush Hour" series, so he is very friendly to Chinese actors and directors, and is even thinking about starting the third part.
Zhang Chen knew that the third part was a big pit. When the first part of Rush Hour was made, New Line Studios didn’t really pay much attention to it, so the cost was only 3000 million.
But in the end, it created a box office miracle, with an investment of 3000 million and a box office of 1.5 million, forcing everyone in the new line to take Cheng Long seriously.
When the second film was launched, Jackie Chan's salary increased to 2000 million US dollars, which is already the top salary for Hollywood actors, so there is the 2000 million club.
New Line did not agree at first, but considering that Li Chenglong was the biggest selling point of the film, it finally agreed.
The sequel did not disappoint them either, with the box office reaching 3.5 million.
When the third film was being prepared, New Line still offered a salary of 2000 million US dollars, but Jackie Chan thought it was too low and asked for 2000 million US dollars plus 15% of the global box office dividends, as well as a share of DVD and videotape sales.
This is definitely the top treatment in Hollywood. Taking a share of the profits is equivalent to cutting meat from the production company. Only an actor of Tom Hanks' level can do this.
But in the end, New Line agreed.
But the final result was not ideal.
"Sharp 1.4", which cost 3 million to produce, ultimately grossed 1.4 million at the box office, a huge loss.
And this one has the worst reputation in the whole series.
Then there is no more.
Apex Legends 4 never came out, and the series was shelved permanently.
However, Cheng Long made a fortune from this film. His salary and box office share totaled more than 4000 million US dollars, and he also earns more than 100 million US dollars in subsequent DVD copyright income every year.
But Zhang Chen was also quite confused. What he was confused about was the production costs in Hollywood.
Jackie Chan's salary for "Sharp 3" was 2000 million, and Tucker's salary was even higher than Jackie Chan's, 2500 million US dollars, but he did not get any share of the profits.
The director's fee was 500 million US dollars, and the rental fee of the Eiffel Tower was 500 million US dollars. It is said that it was rented for a total of 10 days, and the daily rental fee was more than 40 US dollars.
All these add up to only 5500 million US dollars. What happened to the rest of the money?
This is really confusing. Is it the same as those movies starring Louis Koo?
Zhang Chen left early before the party was over because he wanted to quit.
He thought Pitt had invited him to the party to discuss the release of The Shallows, but that wasn't the case.
The other party never mentioned "The Shallows" from beginning to end. Even when Zhang Chen brought it up, the other party avoided it without leaving a trace, as if he didn't want to talk about it.
However, he was quite interested in the new script that Zhang Chen talked about. They made an appointment to discuss it in detail when they had time and they also exchanged phone numbers.
After returning to the hotel, Zhang Chen reviewed the situation and felt that Pitt seemed not to be interested in "The Shallows". The reason he invited him was just to express goodwill and to maintain a good relationship.
Perhaps it was because he tasted the sweetness of success with "Rush Hour" that he realized there are talented people among Chinese filmmakers, so he wanted to make friends with them deliberately.
But without sufficient interest motivation, it is impossible to get him to make any commitment.
To put it bluntly, although Zhang Chen has won the recognition of the Saturn Award, he has not yet proven his abilities in the North American market.
So the other party is waiting and watching.
After thinking all this through, Zhang Chen decided to let Diane follow up on the matter. There was no need for him to spend too much energy on uncertain matters.
The next morning, Diane just turned on the TV and it was all about the news about last night's Saturn Awards ceremony.
"The Lord of the Rings 3", "Kill Bill" and "The Dark Invasion" swept most of the awards last night...
Diane then realized that Zhang Chen had won two Saturn Awards. Looking at the photo of Zhang Chen looking high-spirited, Diane couldn't help but mutter to herself, "I didn't expect my new boss to be so impressive."
Then she received a call from Zhang Chen. "Boss? What do you want me to do?"
"I met Peter Crawford from New Line last night. I told him about the script we have and he was quite interested. You can try to contact him later. His phone number is..."
After hanging up the phone, Diane suddenly felt a sense of crisis. It seemed that her new boss was not without support in the United States. He seemed to be doing well without her. It seemed that she had to work hard and let her boss see her value.
After explaining everything to Diane, Zhang Chen was just about to find a place to have breakfast when a call came in from China.
There is a 15-hour time difference between Beijing and Los Angeles. Zhang Xiaobei sent the press release back as soon as the winners of the Saturn Awards were announced last night.
It was the morning of a new day in the capital.
The Beijing News finally got the first-hand information this time, so how could it not publicize it?
But print media cannot compare to Internet media in terms of timeliness.
Print media requires typeset and printing, but Internet media only requires clicking a button in the background.
Sohu Entertainment published the news as soon as possible. In the past two years, Sohu has been focusing on the entertainment sector. Not only does it follow up on entertainment news quickly, it also engages in introducing genuine American TV series.
[New director wins two trophies at the Saturn Awards for "Dark Invasion"]
Other media outlets followed suit, reprinting and publishing the article, or simply plagiarizing it by changing its name.
[Saturn Award - Best Director from China]
[Shock! "Dark Invasion" swept the American Saturn Awards]
The shocking signs have begun to emerge, and reporters seem to have found the traffic password.
The news was released, but it didn't cause any splash.
At this time, probably only students are more concerned about entertainment news, and ordinary people don’t care too much about what happens in the entertainment industry.
The real influence will only become bigger after it is published in print media.
After a day of fermentation, things finally heated up.
But the most people know is that a Chinese director won two trophies in a row at the Saturn Awards ceremony last night. As for which two trophies they were or the names of the winners, I'm sorry, I don't care at all.
But people in the circle are paying attention.
Wang Changtian from Guangxian, Mr. Wang from Huayi, Wang Jinghua, the top agent in the domestic entertainment industry, Mr. Fu from Beijing Film Academy and other people who were familiar with Zhang Chen called or sent text messages to express their congratulations.
Zhang Chen replied one by one.
Then Zhang Chen received a call from his father: "Yes, Dad, I won two awards, Best Horror Film and Best Director. Yes, I am with Uncle Li, but he is in his room now. Oh, Mom, I am used to the food, everything is fine, don't worry, I will be back tomorrow..."
After dealing with his parents' concern, Zhang Chen finally had time to eat breakfast peacefully.
……
Domestic, Huayi Brothers
In the office, Wang Jinghua was reading a newspaper. The newspaper published the news that Zhang Chen won the Saturn Prize. In order to prevent someone from not knowing what the Saturn Prize is, the article provided some basic information about what the Saturn Prize is.
As I was watching, I heard footsteps outside the door, followed by a knock on the door.
"Please come in~"
After receiving the reply, the door was pushed open from the outside, and then Zeng Li's figure appeared at the door.
"Sister Hua, are you looking for me?"
Wang Jinghua put down the newspaper and waved: "Zeng Li, come in and close the door."
After Zeng Li sat down opposite, Wang Jinghua pushed the newspaper in her hand over to her: "Have you read this?"
Seeing the title, Zeng Li nodded.
She also pays attention to Zhang Chen's affairs.
"By the way, Zeng Li, do you usually keep in touch with Director Zhang?"
Zeng Li thought about it and shook her head: "We haven't been in touch since the filming of Dark Invasion was completed."
Wang Jinghua asked again: "Did he say when he plans to film the sequel to "Dark Invasion"?"
Zeng Li shook her head again: "He didn't say it, but he once told me a rough version of this story, but later Che Xiao's retirement disrupted his plans and the project was shelved."
Speaking of this, Zeng Li was also very anxious.
In the second part of the story narrated by Zhang Chen, the character of Juno did not die, and her importance was almost instantly promoted from a supporting role in the previous part to one of the two protagonists.
This was a golden opportunity for her, but she chose not to take the photo.
In the past two days, she felt that she had returned to the state after "Beauty and the Beast", and her huge popularity was gradually dissipating.
But I never produced any better works.
"When you have nothing to do, keep in touch with Director Zhang. You and Director Zhang met from humble beginnings, which is a blessing many people wish for but cannot hope for. When you have nothing to do, think more about how to get closer to Director Zhang. Okay, that's it."
After coming out of Wang Jinghua's office, Zeng Li fell into deep thought about how to get closer to Zhang Chen.
Could it be possible to unlock a few more postures?
(End of this chapter)