Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 236 Kukugan!
It doesn't take long for a distributor to buy a film.

In the film festival trading market, the average transaction time for a film will not exceed 5 minutes.

James decided to buy it, and Li Qiutang also wanted to sell it, and the two sides hit it off.

James also judged that this movie might not be popular in the North American market, but it could have a chance in Europe. However, the European market is not large, so James' bid was not high.

A total of 1000 million US dollars was used to cover the European and American distribution of "In Time", and it was promised to do award-winning public relations for "In Time".

1000 million US dollars can recover nearly half of the cost of "In Time". China Film, Guangxian and Orange Sky all think this business is promising!
But Li Qiutang refused.

not enough!

Li Qiutang didn't think he could sell more than the 2500 million U.S. dollars for "Hero", but 1000 million was a bit too little to buy out the copyrights in the European and American markets.

Li Qiutang reported 1700 million.

Because putting aside the ideology of "In Time," even if you just consider it as an action drama, it's excellent.

Even if Focus Features does not release the film, it can still recover its costs in a short period of time just by selling DVDs and streaming media.

But James said that since Li Qiutang wanted to enter the awards season, Focus would have to spend extra money on public relations, and James hoped that Li Qiutang could make some concessions on this expense.

Li Qiutang was also easy to talk to. He returned 200 million and reported 1500 million.

James paid back another 300 million, bringing the total to 1200 million.

Li Qiutang felt that 300 million was too much and was only willing to return 100 million and report 1400 million.

James immediately made the decision to buy the European and American distribution rights of "In Time" for US$1400 million, paying a deposit of US$100 million first, and then paying the balance after Focus got the finished film.

The negotiation time was 3 days.

The four producers were very satisfied with the transaction price of 1400 million US dollars, which is more than 9000 million yuan. They made back so much money before the movie was released. The 9000 million yuan will not be shared with the theaters. After paying taxes and fees, the four producers can directly share the money.

However, the two largest producers of "In Time," China Film Group and Autumn Film Group, both asked those who knew the specific amount of the copyright to keep it confidential.

It is good news that the 9000 million investment has been recovered before the movie is released, but if this news gets out now, it will affect the morale of the troops to a certain extent.

When the investors heard this, they began to demand a share of the profits before the movie was released.

Li Qiutang doesn't want this bad phenomenon to happen in her own crew.

After the copyright was sold, Li Qiutang felt even more pressure. He flew to South Korea the day after the negotiations were completed, saying that he would not come back until the special effects were completed.

The copyright was sold for a good price, but the deadline was very tight.

China Film Group and Qiu Tian decided to temporarily increase the investment in post-production, but this move was opposed by Guangxian and Chengtian.

It's not that they disagree with increasing investment to speed up the construction period, but they are opposed to China Film and Qiu Qiu embezzling this part.

Good fellow, after you two have discussed it, you say to increase the subsequent investment, and then sign a supplementary agreement, which will harm the interests of both of our companies.

Anyway, more than 9000 million has been recovered, and Guangxian and Chengtian are willing to invest a little more.

In the later stage, the investment will be increased and divided equally among the four parties, so that no one can take advantage.

Finally, on the third day after Li Qiutang arrived in South Korea, a remittance of 520 million US dollars was deposited into the crew's public account, and the money was used for post-production.

Even Focus sent two foreigners to Korea to supervise the special effects, which is normal. They spent money, so let’s see what happened.
There is no shortcut to making special effects. The only thing the producers can do is to give the special effects engineers enough time and coffee.

To put it simply, spend money!
If there are not enough people, hire more people; if there are not enough machines, add more machines; pay enough overtime pay, and work for me! There is no other way.

Of course, it is another matter that the producers reduce the quality requirements in order to shorten the construction period. Li Qiutang is not exaggerating when he says that he lives and eats at the special effects company. He lives in a hotel 10 minutes away from the special effects company and comes to the company early every day. Although he does not participate in the specific production, he stays in the office, watching others work and also puts forward his own requirements.

The $520 million came just in time, and the three special effects companies each added a group of engineers to work on the finishing touches of "In Time".

Overtime pay increased by another 30%, and the engineers were all working hard until late at night every day.

When it comes to hard work, we have to look at East Asia. Koreans work hard, and Li Qiutang works hard too. His energy can definitely keep up with Korea, but the two producers in Focus can't do that.

Their salaries are paid by Focus, so they don't have to fight until midnight like the Koreans.

Although they also work hard and conscientiously, they can't compete with China and South Korea.

In China, the adjusted publicity and promotion plan is almost the same.

The Lunar New Year holiday has a large amount of traffic, so movies released during the Spring Festival can also be promoted and marketed.

After a brief silence of 3 weeks, the "In Time" Weibo resumed publishing new content, including work photos of the "In Time" crew, and began to launch official promotions by taking advantage of the popularity of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Two work photos were released today. One showed director Li Qiutang, shirtless and wearing shorts, explaining the scene to the male and female leads Liu Ye and Liu Yifei.

Both protagonists also held small fans in their hands.

Another photo is of Liu Ye and Liu Yifei talking to each other during a play. It can be seen that the two protagonists get along very happily.

The crew's official Weibo account posted: "It was 35 degrees outside and at least 40 degrees in the studio at that time. No one complained. Thank you all for your efforts. Stay tuned for "In Time."

This Weibo post made the outside world almost unanimously believe that "In Time" can still be scheduled for the Lunar New Year holiday.

But what's strange is that there is still no clear release date information for "In Time".

"The Laughing Man", "The Orphan of Zhao", "Let the Bullets Fly" and "If You Are the One 2" have all announced their release dates.

But in fact, "In Time" is just taking advantage of the popularity of the Lunar New Year period in advance.

Regarding the delay in setting a release date, the relevant person in charge of China Film Group said: "It has actually been completed, but Director Qiu Tang is still a little dissatisfied. He is now leading the team to make the final revisions in Korea."

Doesn't this show that we are striving for perfection?

The programs and interviews previously recorded by several main actors have also been gradually aired recently.

Liu Yifei revealed in front of the camera that she couldn't keep up with her competitors in the first month of filming and was in a very low mood. Liu Yifei said without exaggeration that she "shed tears every day, really."

Now it seems funny and interesting to talk about it.

Liu Ye said that he had never made a movie like In Time: "Its temperament is different from any domestic movie I've seen before."

He also praised Liu Yifei: "She is so beautiful, right? But she works very hard when filming. She dares to do anything."

Perhaps it is because he feels that "In Time" is the most special existence in the Lunar New Year period, a science fiction action film, and no one can grasp its pulse.

Just a few days after the promotion of "In Time" started, bad news began to spread in the market.

"Li Qiutang's family used to sell pirated CDs."

"Li Qiutang took the lead in disrespecting intellectual property rights."

On the last day of November, Li Qiutang completed all the post-production work of "In Time" in South Korea and led the team back to China!

(End of this chapter)