Chapter 242: Wine Table Chat
Chapter 242: Wine Table Chat
A production cost of 100 million RMB doesn't sound as scary as 100 million US dollars.
After all, in today's Chinese entertainment industry, the production costs of movies directed by big directors are also around this number, and some are even higher than this.
So after hearing Wang Hao's words, Wang Zhonglei even asked back:
"One hundred million RMB, is that enough to make a science fiction movie?"
"Of course it's enough."
Wang Hao picked up a Longjing shrimp with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. He chewed it and swallowed it, then said:
“In fact, the costs of so-called blockbusters in our country are generally too high.
As a director, I honestly think that it is totally unnecessary to spend a lot of production costs on hiring big-name Hong Kong stars, or spend a lot of money on building cities, buildings, streets, etc.
As soon as Wang Hao said this, embarrassment immediately appeared on the faces of the Wang Zhongjun and his brother.
The movie "The Forbidden Kingdom" that they invested in not long ago invited Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie.
However, Wang Hao didn't care about this and continued to talk to himself:
“For example, in the film “Fatal Call” that I shot before, I approached Xu Zheng.
There is also "Source Code", starring Yu Bo.
Both of them were TV actors before, and they were not very famous. You all saw how the movie performed at the box office. "
When Wang Zhonglei heard what he said, he immediately complimented him:
"That's because you are a big director, which is more useful than a big star. If it were someone else's movie, without the blessing of a big star, it would really be a disadvantage."
Wang Hao waved his hand. "Not really, not really. I just said this to say that different types of movies need to focus on different things, which means we need to grasp the selling point of the movie."
"Just like the science fiction films I made, is the selling point the big stars? The selling point is the special effects, the big scenes and the strange plot!
If you invest all the film funds in hiring big stars, then there will be less money left for special effects production, and the final film will not be very good for viewing.
It's the same in Hollywood, for films like Star Wars and Terminator, and Transformers, actors are not that famous, which can save a lot of production costs."
"So, Brother Wang, who are you planning to use in this science fiction blockbuster?" Wang Zhongjun asked at this time.
Wang Hao said without thinking:
"The lead actor is Wu Jing, and actors from previous films, such as Wan Qian, Yu Bo, Wang Jingchun, and Nicholas Tse, will also be in the cast."
"Wow, this cast is not bad. Brother Wang, you just said that money should not be spent on actors." Wang Zhonglei joked.
"That's different."
Wang Hao said calmly:
“When [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] first started, Wu Jing and I signed contracts for several movies at once.
According to this calculation, their salary for each movie is only between 2-3 million, and even the leading actors only make 4-5 million.
When the two brothers of the Wang family heard this, they looked at each other and thought in their hearts that Wang Hao was indeed a man with a long-term vision and was very confident.
Otherwise, if it were an ordinary person, who would dare to sign several film contracts with an actor at one time? Aren’t they afraid that the first film will fail and the subsequent films will be wasted?
However, his actions did give the Wang brothers some inspiration. Perhaps, it seemed that they could do the same.
"But if you do this, aren't you afraid that the main actors will risk breaching the contract and cancel the film contract?"
Wang Zhongjun suddenly asked a very critical question. Indeed, the movie universe model, like the series of movies, still relies heavily on actors.
Replacing actors hastily or killing a character early could disrupt the rhythm of the entire movie universe.
Therefore, actors playing important roles are not without the capital to negotiate with film and television companies. Even if the film and television companies prepare for the rainy day and sign several film contracts in advance, it is useless.
It's just like the three little actors in "Harry Potter" who have to make a fuss every year before filming the movie.
Faced with this problem, Wang Hao also gave his solution.
“Contracts and liquidated damages are naturally a more effective method of restraint, but in addition to restraint, certain inducements must also be given to the actors.
For example, in my [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], there is a corresponding 'back-end income' plan for those actors."
"'Back-end income' plan?" The two Wang brothers looked confused.
"Yes, 'residual' is a model unique to Hollywood."
Under the influence of alcohol, Wang Hao began to introduce himself in a torrent of words.
In Hollywood, an actor's pay is roughly divided into three parts: film salary, dividends, and residuals.
Everyone is most familiar with film pay because it is common in the world's entertainment industry.
In fact, there is a misunderstanding on this point. Many people think that after a few years, as capital invaded the entertainment industry, the pay of Chinese stars began to skyrocket, which seemed to be a bit too high.
However, in Hollywood, with 1992 as the dividing line, the era of high pay for superstars has already begun. For many superstars, high pay of more than 1500 million US dollars can be easily obtained.
Therefore, the issue of high star pay is not only something that is hated by the Chinese entertainment industry, but also makes many Hollywood film and television companies dissatisfied.
When an actor's pay reaches a certain level, any further increase in pay is likely to affect the production of a film.
At this time, box office dividends naturally came into being.
Of course, box office dividends are not something that just any star can get.
Generally speaking, whether a star can get a share of the box office is enough to be an important reference for his commercial value.
Many blockbuster movies have high box office, but if the box office of this movie is not due to the appeal of the leading actor, but because of the value of the movie IP itself, or the appeal of the director, and other gimmicks and other factors, then in this case, even if it is a big-budget movie, most actors will not get any dividends.
Only those actors who have proven their commercial value, or who can "hold" the box office as the Chinese say, will have the chance to get box office dividends in the movie in which they star.
For actors, box office revenue share is a greater benefit than film pay.
It’s just that the vast majority of actors, or even to be absolutely sure, probably 99% of the actors, do not receive any share of the box office revenue.
As for those actors who can get a share of the box office, generally speaking, in Hollywood, most of them can get 5% to 10% of the profits of a movie.
This figure far exceeds the pay of ordinary stars. For many big-name stars, this is one of their main sources of income.
(End of this chapter)