After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 450 I would rather let it rot in my hands than let anyone get it for free!
August 9, morning.

Weathering With You started filming in a low-key manner at the blue and green screen studio on the eighth floor of Mingyang Entertainment.

There is a long soft film light box hanging on the wall.

The light box shows roasted pork, fruits, snacks, and a wide variety of items, more than a dozen in total.

Below the light box is a long red cloth table with a large incense burner on it.

At the opening ceremony, only the big incense burner was real.

The actors who saw this kind of opening ceremony for the first time were all confused. It was so rude!
There is no opening remarks and no particular time limit.

Wu Zhikui and Li Mingyang lit two sticks of incense and began to distribute them to everyone.

After distributing the incense, Li Mingyang took the lead in conducting his own cyber power-on ceremony!
Hundreds of people came together to burn incense.

Li Mingyang picked up the microphone and said to everyone, "There are many vacancies on the third to fifth floors of Mingyang Entertainment. You can choose to stay at Mingyang Entertainment or stay at a hotel. Of course, the hotel is at your own expense."

"Everyone has signed the confidentiality agreement. I reiterate once again that all the contents of the movie must be kept confidential before it is released. If I find out who leaked it, I will not make you pay compensation. I will only disclose it to the media."

After Li Mingyang finished speaking, he started calling out names, asking the actors to come over and get their storyboards.

Most actors have come into contact with storyboards.

But they were all dealing with stick figures…

This is the first time that everyone has seen a storyboard for Weathering With You that is comparable to a comic book.

"For the next ten days, we will shoot the green screen scenes first. I will give you one day to digest your storyboards. We will start shooting at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Okay, dismissed."

After Li Mingyang finished shouting, he ran away, leaving behind a group of confused actors.

After returning to the office, Li Mingyang turned on his computer, opened QQ, and waited until nine o'clock in the morning to have a video conference with Wang Changtian.

The day before yesterday, Warner Bros. suddenly contacted Guang Guang and wanted to buy the adaptation rights of The Witch.

The price was three million dollars.

The budget for Weathering With You was 100 million, but the production funds were only 25 million, leaving a gap of more than 70 million.

When a movie starts shooting, everything costs money.

The three million dollars is like a blessing from heaven.

Wang Changtian thought it could be sold, but Li Mingyang disagreed.

Because the copyright of Witch originally belonged to Warner.

Originally, the "Witch" series was planned to be created in the form of a trilogy. When the first film was released, it was clearly stated that the film was only PART 1 of the story, and the ending of the film even hinted at the sequel.

In 2020, Warner Bros., the producer of "A Witch's Tale", suddenly announced its withdrawal from the Korean market.

Director Park Hoon-jung's plan to film a sequel to "Witch" with Warner Bros. was also scrapped.

Due to failure to reach an agreement with Warner on the transfer of Witch's entertainment intellectual property rights, the original sequel script could not be used.

Finally, he signed an agreement with NEW Company, started a new business, and created a new script, letting the story jump directly to the second generation of witches.

Then Witch 2 didn’t have the support of Warner’s script, and it was a waste of money, and it was a bad one…

"Boss Wang, how did the talk go?"

"They are very interested and want the rights to adapt Witch, but they are determined to pay $3 million and won't pay more."

"Let the mountain eagle try."

"I've tried it, it's the same no matter who negotiates." Wang Changtian scratched his head helplessly, "It's still because of your $200,000 copyright. It's not easy to negotiate at all."

"This is fucking rubbish. CJ is such a piece of shit. I've already signed the confidentiality agreement, but he's still trying to trick me. Doesn't he want to do business anymore?"

"I think I found some clues about this matter. It seems that Wanda asked for it."

"Wanda?"

“Wanda is discussing cooperation with CGV.”

"..."

"If we don't sell the adaptation rights, we can only sell the copyright. With a unified wholesale price of 20 US dollars, we should be able to sell it for 200 million US dollars."

"Why do I feel like everyone knows that we are short of money..." said Li Mingyang.

"The stall is too big. I used up all the salary I had saved last time. Sell it quickly, or I won't be able to pay the salary this month."

"What did you do again?!" Li Mingyang was shocked.

We are deeply in debt! You actually touched the employees' salaries!
"The Painted Wall is about to be released, and publicity and promotion also require money."

Li Mingyang originally wanted to say what was so good about promoting that crappy movie, but then he remembered that even though the word of mouth was bad, the box office was still good.

"Let's sell them all at once. Five million dollars is enough to keep us going until November. If the painting wall explodes, Weathering With You's funding will be fully resolved."

"Do you think painting on the wall is okay?" Li Mingyang asked back.

"I feel it's OK. It has the potential to be a hit at the box office."

Li Mingyang didn’t know from which angle Wang Changtian was looking at it, anyway... Li Mingyang didn’t quite trust the painted wall.

Breaking 100 million will not solve Weathering With You’s problems.

At least it has to be over 200 million, and it has to be real...

Wang Changtian’s funding chain has problems, but Li Mingyang’s situation is better than his.

It hasn’t come to the point of affecting employees’ salaries yet.

But it's not much better.

Wu Zhikui and Xiao Yang went to various universities in Yanbei to recruit people, and recruited more than 300 people, although the internship salary was only 2,000.

But providing food and accommodation for more than 300 people is a huge expense!

Lack of money will have a chain reaction, and the lack of money will increase over time.

Especially since Guangxian is a large company with an imbalance in income and expenditure.

Li Mingyang paced back and forth in the office in annoyance. Their debts had exploded and they were walking on thin ice, on a knife's edge.

Without a large amount of capital injection, the risk cannot be borne at all.

There are risks, no doubt about it.

Where does the money come from!

Of course it is overseas copyright, and overseas copyright can be refunded.

Sell ​​as much as you want!
"Boss Wang, we can't go on like this. Two or three million dollars won't quench our thirst. If we sell it at a wholesale price of 20 dollars, we'd be stupid! CJ is unkind, and we are unjust. We'll sue CJ for violating the confidentiality agreement! Let them pay us back!"

"It's not much money to pay..."

"Attitude! We need to make our position clear. The offer of $200,000 is too disgusting. I won't sell it even if it rots in the pot." Li Mingyang grinned, "Tell Warner that the rights to adapt Witch are $10 million."

"Ahem!" Wang Changtian choked on his tea when he heard the price of 10 million US dollars. "3 million US dollars is already very high..."

"Just do as I say, today. After today, I will bury the copyright in the ground rather than sell it. Oh, by the way! You can tell the people at Warner how Feng Kuzi stole my script and how I resisted! I would rather die than surrender. I would rather let it rot in my hands than let anyone get it for free!"

"..."

Ended the call.

Wang Changtian felt it was difficult to talk to him.

The price Hollywood offers for the rights to adapt Asian films is not high.

Three million US dollars is a rare price in China.

Warner Bros. paid only $175 million to buy the Hollywood copyright for Infernal Affairs, which swept the Asian film scene at the time.

"Do your best and leave the rest to fate!" Wang Changtian stood up, left the office, and assigned the legal department to sue CJ.

Then I took an interpreter to the hotel to discuss copyright issues with Warner's representatives.

The two sides started talking at around ten in the morning and continued until around four in the afternoon.

The longer they talked, the more Wang Changtian felt that the Warner representative came with a mission and was determined to obtain the rights to adapt Witch.

"No, forget it. You can go out and ask around about our Director Li's temper. He would rather keep the pot rotten than sell it at a low price. In my opinion, 10 million US dollars is too little."

Warner representatives are all aware of Li Mingyang's deeds.

A great Asian director who rose to prominence in three years, and was banned from directing for a year in between... He is a legend no matter where he is.

Warner representatives gathered together to discuss the matter. After much discussion, they had no choice but to call the headquarters.

In the end, a whopping price of five million US dollars was offered.

When Wang Changtian heard the price, he immediately agreed on ten million US dollars and left without looking back.

The negotiations broke down and entered their final stages.

Extreme pressure.

Li Mingyang laid his cards on the table: take 10 million US dollars, or he would be buried.

Within Warner, the attitude towards the adaptation rights of Witch was surprisingly unanimous and they were very optimistic.

The Witch fits the definition of a heroic movie very well.

Very Hollywood style!
Once we get the adaptation rights, we don’t have to change the overall framework, we just need to change the actors and reshoot it, and it will be an excellent heroic movie!
Is it worth 10 million US dollars? Of course it is!
But a script that can be bought for five million dollars is not worth spending ten million dollars on.

The time shows 23:40.

The last twenty minutes.

The head of the Warner delegation could no longer sit still and called the headquarters again.

"That Li is a very young billionaire. He will not compromise. He wants to save face."

"I think his script is worth $10 million!"

"The Witch is definitely worth buying! That's my opinion!"

There was a lot of noise on the other end of the phone, as if they were arguing about something.

……

On September 9, Guangxian and Warner Bros. signed the copyright contract for "Witch" in Yanbei.

Warner Bros. bought the North American screening and adaptation rights of Witch for $1000 million.

Once the news was announced, the industry was shocked and countless people were startled.

The box office potential of "The Witch" in Korea has reached its bottom, but it has not been taken off the screen and is still in theaters.

Not only did "The Witch" break the box office record of "Your Name" with 460 million viewers, it also defeated "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and made it into the top six of the Korean box office of the year!
The box office is crazy, just as crazy as the content of The Witch.

Although the box office results were very good.

But because of the copyright issue of $200,000, it was exposed.

This has led to a crazy price cut for overseas copyrights.

Just when many people thought that Witch couldn't be sold at a high price, Warner Bros., the overlord of the Hollywood Big Six, suddenly made a move and bought the copyright of Witch for an unprecedented price of 10 million US dollars in recent years!
Ten million dollars!

It has been a long time since a domestic movie was sold at such a high price in a single market.

Still Hollywood!
Warner broke the shackles of overseas copyright with a price of tens of millions of dollars. When other film producers saw this, they all showed sincerity in communicating with Guangguang.

9 month 9 day.

Representatives of theater chains from 21 countries and regions including Europe and Asia signed a US$1500 million overseas distribution contract with Guangguang on the spot.

$20 in Korea, $1000 million in North America, plus an additional $1500 million.

A total of US$2520 million.

It set a new record for overseas distribution of domestic films in recent years.

Yanbei, a club.

Jack Ma listened to his subordinates' report in disbelief that a movie that lost money but gained publicity had miraculously sold its copyright for a sky-high price overseas.

Warner even bought the North American copyright for a whopping $10 million.

Although he doesn't know much about the film industry, he can still understand the data.

Although the development speed of Dongda Film has been rapid in recent years, the road for Chinese-language films to go overseas has not shown any signs of becoming smoother. On the contrary, it has encountered many difficulties.

Since 08, the transaction difficulty of Chinese-language films in major copyright trading markets has begun to increase, and more and more types of films that once sold for good prices have gradually had few people asking for their prices.

This is not just a problem for Chinese-language films, but also a change in the overseas market.

It is very difficult to promote non-Hollywood and non-English films overseas.

Even French art films, which were once exported to Japan and the United States, have their influence limited to Europe.

In the final analysis, the channels for capital recovery have become narrower, traditional cinemas and DVD rentals have been impacted by streaming media, and the financial crisis has worsened the capital environment.

European film producers have become more cautious and their enthusiasm for releasing films in small languages ​​has waned.

Only international directors and international stars with a certain international reputation can sell their films and sell them at a high price.

Hollywood distributors cooperate with Dongda Film Company to represent Chinese-language films.

It’s not because the Todai film itself is so good.

They just took a fancy to the Dongda market behind it, hoping to establish connections with the Dongda market and Dongda industry by means of the agency of Chinese-language films, and prepare for longer-term strategic cooperation in the future.

So the price given is generally not high.

In order to appear in Hollywood, there are many domestic filmmakers who sell their film copyrights at a low price, which makes it even harder to sell them at a high price over time.

Warner spent 10 million US dollars, which has gone beyond the strategic cooperation itself, but is really optimistic about the Witch!

"It's really outrageous." Cai Chongxin poured Jack Ma a cup of tea and said with a smile: "The chain reaction has caused Witch's overseas profits to soar. They are no longer short of money."

"It's all over now..." Jack Ma laughed and cried, "This person is tougher than Sun Wukong."

"They have money now, and Weathering With You is a good project. I think we should cooperate, join forces, and promote our brand," said Tsai Chongxin.

Jack Ma covered his mouth and fell into deep thought.

Few people know the full story of Weathering With You.

And Jack Ma happened to be one of the insiders.

Your Name has over 400 special effects shots.

And Weathering With You has more than three times as many names as yours, over 1200, more than Dragon Gate Flying Daggers.

The witch's action scenes are mainly concentrated in the second half, most of which are real shots and then synthesized in post-production.

Weathering With You involves too many CG special effects. When Jack Ma saw the storyboard of Weathering With You, he felt that Li Mingyang had gone crazy.

It's obviously just a youth movie, but why does it have to be so magical and have so many special effects...

And IMAX.

The rendering time is absolutely astronomical.

Li Mingyang only had more than three months to start Weathering With You from scratch.

Under normal circumstances, it may not be completed in a year.

But if you use Alibaba’s cloud rendering…it’s really possible!

To be honest, Jack Ma doesn't want to help...

Li Mingyang's Witch has already caused a stir in the domestic entertainment industry.

If Li Mingyang were to create Weathering With You, the others would really have no chance of getting by.

Domestic and foreign films that want to become blockbuster hits can be roughly divided into two categories: those famous for their realistic special effects scenes and those that attract audiences with their storylines.

Weathering With You has both!

Li Mingyang really focuses on both special effects and plot, and is the most forward-thinking director in China.

While others were still filming money laundering in real life, he was just spending money on special effects.

They even came up with a few special effects plug-ins that stunned Alibaba’s engineers.

Jack Ma admires Li Mingyang very much, but Li Mingyang is uncontrollable. He offended the people behind him by snatching the land from Yinghuang.

The ability to disrupt the situation is too explosive!

The higher-ups don't care about him at all.

It is not conducive to Alibaba’s layout, nor is it conducive to everyone making money!

Jack Ma didn't want to help Li Mingyang from the bottom of his heart. In addition, Wang Changtian secretly bought shares in Tudou, which made him very angry.

"Neither Wang Changtian nor Li Mingyang are worry-free people. Let's wait and see..." Jack Ma picked up the teacup and said lightly.

"In my opinion, Wang Changtian bought shares in Tudou secretly, and Li Mingyang should not know about it."

Jack Ma frowned slightly, looking unhappy.

It’s annoying that his confidant always speaks for Li Mingyang.

"Li Mingyang's Bilibili is the most suitable video platform. After we warned him, he immediately separated Bilibili from the main company and also switched to Huabu Video to focus on production."

Jack Ma nodded. Li Mingyang's B station responded quite quickly that time.

Cai Chongxin laughed and said, "This year, Chinese concept stocks have encountered a crisis of confidence, the US debt crisis has intensified, and Tudou was forced to go public in the US. Although it was successful, the rules of the game have changed. Sina and Penguin are fighting fiercely and have no energy to compete with us for Tudou. It seems that Baidu's Gong Yu was also persuaded by Koo Yongqiang to withdraw."

"No one in the market can compete with Youku for Tudou. Tudou will be ours sooner or later. It's just a matter of time."

"As for Wang Changtian's entry, I feel that he was just blinded by the benefits... Li Mingyang is really good at creating content."

“But we don’t need competitors.”

"If Li Mingyang dares to leave, Penguin will definitely be the first to deal with him."

Youku is not yet owned by Alibaba.

Joseph Tsai analyzed the matter from the perspective that Youku belongs to Alibaba.

Jack Ma felt very comfortable listening to this. "Find someone to ask. If it is a misunderstanding, we can continue to talk. As for cloud rendering, we will offend a lot of people if we help him."

Cai Chongxin adjusted his glasses and smiled, "I communicate with him quite a lot... We have a bit of a friendship. I think if it is used well, the effect will be very good."

"When do you think it's best to use it?"

"The people who have the greatest malice towards him have never been us, but the circle he is in now. The people above him are deliberately indulging him. Once he realizes this, he will definitely explode even though he knows the consequences will be serious... Who will clean up the mess then?"

"That must be me." Jack Ma patted the table, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, smiling. "The tea is a little cold, but it tastes good. Let's do it. This deal is a good deal!"

Does the potato incident have anything to do with Li Mingyang?

Cai Chongxin was also unsure, but he had done all he could to help.

Fortunately, Jack Ma listened.

……

9 month 10 number.

Hengdian, 8th floor of Mingyang Entertainment, blue and green screen studio.

Li Mingyang stood in front of the window, answering Cai Chongxin's call, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Yes, it will be completed on the 15th, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on the 16th. President Cai and President Ma must come and attend!"

"Definitely."

After hanging up the phone, Li Mingyang left the eighth floor with a gloomy expression.

Seeing this, Wu Zhikui sat down behind the monitor helplessly, picked up the intercom and asked about the preparation status of each group.

After making sure there are no problems, start shooting.

Everyone in the crew was no longer surprised by this scene.

Since the filming started, Li Mingyang often left in the middle of the show and would be away for a long time.

Then Wu Zhikui was in charge during this period of time.

As for the result...

Wu Zhikui had no say in the matter, it felt like a rehearsal, but the cameras were on and no one dared to be careless.

Li Mingyang returned to his office angrily and called Wang Changtian.

"Have you invested in Tudou?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time.

Li Mingyang wanted to curse, but he held back. "Even if Guangguang is big, it shouldn't be so small that it can't even come up with 100 million. So you bought shares in Tudou. How much do you have?"

"5%."

"5%? Where do you get so much money?"

Tudou’s market value is 7 million US dollars, which is more than 3 million US dollars!

"It's not as expensive as you think. I took over someone else's deal and it only cost me 3000 million US dollars, and I made a few million US dollars."

"You're crazy! If you do this, they'll think we're running a video platform!"

"I think there's still hope for Potato. This is the last chance to enter!"

Look at it from the perspective of a latecomer.

Domestic video players have long since shifted from chasing the YouTube model in the early days to imitating the Netflix model: using copyright prices to build high barriers to competition, and expecting opponents to fall and never recover in lawsuits.

BAT has already entered the market in full force, using copyright to build a high wall!

Why do you want to fight?
No, Wang Changtian is not that stupid!

What the hell!

Could it be that Wang Xing is going to be in trouble?
(End of this chapter)