Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 166 Lionsgate and the "Double J Plan"

Inside a modern glass building in Santa Monica, the exterior walls are constructed with metal panels that reflect sunlight, creating a simple yet powerful look.

The glass curtain wall is inlaid with Lionsgate's iconic golden lion logo, which looks particularly dazzling under the California sunshine.

After Wu Chen and Jason Blum got out of the car, they walked into the headquarters gate. In the spacious and bright lobby, trailers of several upcoming films were playing, and the logo of "Now You See Me" was slowly rotating on the large LED screen.

The receptionist guided the two to take the exclusive elevator directly to the high-level conference room.

Jon Feltheimer and Michael Burns were already waiting.

"Wu," Michael stood up with a smile, "Congratulations on winning the award at Cannes."

"Thank you." Wu Chen smiled and nodded.

After the pleasantries, several people sat around the conference table, and Michael got to the point first:
"We have tentatively scheduled the Los Angeles premiere of Now You See Me for June 8th, followed by New York, and several press premieres in San Francisco and London.
As for Asia, we have already arranged the trips to South Korea and Japan in July, and as for China, Han said that there will be a grand ceremony waiting for you the day before the premiere!

Michael shrugged and spread his hands. "So you might want to be prepared—starting next week, you'll have almost no time for yourself."

Wu Chen smiled when he heard this. This was already expected.

The week before a movie is released is the busiest time for the creative team, especially in Hollywood, because they have to visit some major cities.

But compared to the actors, he, as a director, has quite a lot of free time.

The main publicity still falls on several leading actors, especially Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. In Hollywood jargon, these people are called "red carpet engines."

"Oh, by the way," Michael suddenly seemed to remember, "there is one more thing today.

Cathy has a great initiative going on right now and we want to hear your thoughts.”

He then called a staff member over and whispered something to him. A few minutes later, a middle-aged man with gray hair but a spirited look walked into the meeting room.

"This is Casey Silver, a very senior producer in Hollywood," Michael introduced.

"Hello, Wu Chen." Wu Chen politely prepared to shake hands, but his eyes caught Jason Blum beside him whispering a reminder to him:
"He used to be an executive at Universal, the one I told you about on the plane."

Wu Chen was slightly stunned, but he had already guessed something in his heart.

As expected, Michael Burns' tone became excited: "Wu, Silver proposed to put your country's Jackie Chan (Cheng Long) and Jet Li (Li Lianjie) on the same stage.

I think it’s a brilliant idea.”

"They both have huge appeal around the world," Casey Silver said, "especially in the Asian market, they are irreplaceable action stars, and they have never really appeared together in a movie.

We have developed a concept called the Double J Project."

Jason Blum, standing by, was also very excited, his eyes lighting up: "That's a really good idea!"

Wu Chen nodded slightly. He had to admit that the idea of ​​the two Js on the same stage was indeed quite good, and there were moviegoers and fans who bought into it.

As long as the script is good, to be honest, the box office will definitely be good. Coupled with various sales such as copyright, it should be a good and profitable project.

The problem lies in the script, which resulted in the project making a small loss even though the DVD and Blu-ray versions recovered some of the costs.

Of course, in addition to the script problem, there are probably also issues with the arrangement of scenes and roles of Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie.

"Wu, are you interested?" Michael added, "Whether it's directing, producing, or consulting, we can talk. Lionsgate really hopes you can participate."

As a film with a Chinese cultural background, Lionsgate naturally thought it would be best to use a Chinese director.

Wu Chen is also familiar with the Hollywood style. "Now You See Me" is enough to prove Wu Chen's understanding of commercial films and his experience in helming A-level productions. "I have a project on hand that I've been preparing for over a year," Wu Chen said politely.

Wu Chen's refusal really surprised Michael Burns and Cathy Silver, because the project had very good prospects, and Wu Chen could still participate in it even if he didn't become the director.

After the two of them left Lionsgate, Jason Blum asked in confusion:

"Wu, why don't you agree? This seems like a very good idea. Theoretically, as long as this movie is properly managed, it won't lose money."

Jason Blum explained to Wu Chen based on his professional analysis.

Fans of Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie, as well as the DVD copyright fees of their films, etc., all added up, as long as the box office is not too bad, based on the two's normal performance in previous years and the Chinese market, they should make money.

"It's too tiring." Wu Chen smiled and shook his head.

Although he could have suggested some revisions to get "Double J Project" back on track, there are actually three male protagonists in it.

How to weaken the fake male protagonist, let the two real male protagonists appear and integrate Chinese Kung Fu into the plot at the right time, while reasonably balancing the roles, this is definitely a brain-consuming problem, and Wu Chen does not want to spend time on this.

Wu Chen has been in Hollywood for several days. On the one hand, some details with Universal have to be finalized and Wu Chen has to give his approval. On the other hand, "Now You See Me" is about to premiere.

In China, the news of the upcoming release of "Now You See Me" has swept through the first- and second-tier cities, while the third- and fourth-tier cities have relied on publicity in Internet cafes.

In June, thanks to Han Sanding's efforts, there were no imported blockbusters.

Domestic blockbusters also avoided it, and no one wanted to touch an A-level masterpiece at this time.

Even Huayi Brothers' "Night Banquet" gave up its summer vacation release date and directly changed it to mid-September.

But at this time Wang Zhonglei was cursing.

"Damn it, Han Sanping is such a piece of shit! He didn't show any imported blockbusters in June or July, he put them all in August or September!"

Because "Night Banquet" has just been scheduled to be released on September 15, and it has been decided to hold preview screenings in five cities across the country starting from August 30.

However, the next second the overseas blockbuster "X-Men 3" was pushed to early September.

At the end of August, there will be another "Cars", a Disney animation blockbuster that the market has been looking forward to for a long time.

At this time, Gao Chengsheng was a little amused and helpless when he saw the schedule of imported films.

"Boss Han, isn't this arrangement too casual?"

"It's okay. There's a one-week gap between it and The Banquet. Besides, pirated copies will have been out by then, so it won't have much of an impact." Han Sanping waved his hand. It wasn't like the films were released simultaneously.

Gao Chengsheng nodded when he heard this.

Having said that, this arrangement obviously made Huayi very unhappy.

"X-Men 3" is said to be the largest-investment film ever made by 20th Century Fox. It would be a lie to say that being too close to the action has no impact.

Han Sanping doesn't care about all this. He is not targeting Huayi specifically. These imported films are already suppressed enough on weekdays. It is good enough that they can make room for prime time for domestic blockbusters.

"I have to fly to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow. Please keep an eye on the domestic premiere arrangements and make sure nothing goes wrong." Han Sanping couldn't help but remind him.

There is only a little over a week left until Now You See Me is released.

(End of this chapter)