Just when Wang Shang and others were doing post-processing for "Death Is Coming" at digitalsquires, the cooperation negotiations between China and the United States finally made some progress, at least in Wang Shang's view.
China and the United States are relaxing barriers on both sides at the same time. China will expand the number of Hollywood movies it introduces each year from 10 to 20, and the screening limit will also increase from 15 days to 25 days. The United States is not allowed to impose barriers on film technology and allows China
The company has acquired some film companies in the United States.
After the news came out, some people were happy and some were worried.
The six major film companies in the United States quickly released news and declared: "We are full of confidence in this cooperation and are very optimistic about China's 10 billion box office market that continues to grow!!"
For the six major U.S. film companies, film technical barriers are important, but China cannot learn them easily after opening up. They are confident that they will always be in the absolute technological lead.
Relaxing the number of movies introduced to China and relaxing the screening time will bring more income to these film companies. If last year's "Star Wars 2" can have this treatment, it should be able to get an additional 200-300 million yuan.
Box office.
In China, most film companies expressed deep concern.
Engage in special effects and film technology?
This is a huge money-burning hole. It is normal to invest tens of millions or hundreds of millions every month!!
Therefore, this technical barrier does not matter much to them. On the contrary, the introduction of 10 more Hollywood movies will have a huge impact on their self-made movies.
As for the large film production groups, this news brings them both joy and worry. They are happy that they can learn more special effects to serve their own movies. But they are worried that this thing is very expensive. The impact of foreign blockbusters has a great impact on the release of their movies.
A great test.
People's Daily summed it up in one word: "This is both a challenge! It is also an opportunity!"
Other authoritative entertainment newspapers also said: "The entire Chinese film and television companies will usher in a great opportunity for consolidation. In the future, the world will be dominated by large groups and large productions. If small film companies do not work hard, they will only end up being annexed or bankrupt."
"
Some people also began to think of Tianwang Studio, which opened only last year, and began to maliciously speculate: "It depends on when it will close down!!"
"I guess that arrogant Wang Shang will cry when he hears the news?"
Wang Shang was in the United States and knew the news earlier than at home. He did not 'cry' as those people suspected. Instead, he was very happy.
"By the time the agreement is officially signed, I will probably have earned my first money and can start my talent training plan."
What Wang Shang has to do now is to make money, make money, and make more money!!!
Then invest all the money into talent training and develop your own special effects technical team! If the special effects team is not developed, many movie plans will be hindered.
But this will all have to wait until "Death Comes" is released.
Currently, in addition to Wang Shang's filming of "The God of Death" and the studio's daily backup funds, the remaining almost 50 million funds have been invested in the development and production of "Transformers" animation and toys.
The money from "Death Is Coming" will not be recovered until early next year; and "Transformers" will not start making money until next year. It will not start making profits until the second half of next year.
Everything will have to wait until next year.
…
2003, November 20.
After nearly two months of hard work day and night by Wang Shang's team and the digitalsquires special effects team, the first version of "The God of Death" was finally released.
Everyone felt great after seeing the first version of this production.
The music was made by a professional team that cost 2 million yuan. The effect is good and makes people feel very eerie and terrifying. The special effects are well reflected in the movie and have a very strong visual impact.
The effect of the plane bombing that Wang Shang spent 2.5 million yuan on is even better. It is not only delicate and clear, but also has a sense of violence coming from the ground.
The digitalsquires company also took a fancy to this set of explosive materials and spent US$100,000 to buy the rights to use it in North America. It will be used in future movies.
After the movie came out, Wang Shang successfully invited reviewers from six major Hollywood film companies including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Paramount to watch the movie through his relationship with Digitalsquires, hoping to use them to distribute the movie in North America.
.
"Death Is Coming" is actually more suitable for the North American market, because Wang Shang knows that its real birthplace is actually in Hollywood.
Because of the invitation from Digitalsquires, the six major Hollywood film companies also sent horror film reviewers to the show.
By four o'clock in the afternoon, all the reviewers sent by these companies had arrived.
Several competitors smiled as soon as they saw it, shook hands and hugged each other, and it was a harmonious atmosphere.
Led by the waiter, everyone came to a small experience screening room. Wang Shang, as the producer and director, greeted them, but only Paramount Company seemed more enthusiastic, and the reviewers from the other five companies were a bit cold.
I guess they wouldn't have come if it wasn't for the invitation from digitalsquires.
The lights were turned off, the theater was dark, and the movie started.
What comes into view is a scene of a very harmonious and happy family. The son is going on a graduation trip, and the parents are helping to pack things...
Several audience members relaxed unconsciously.
The scene turned, and the protagonist was sleeping in the bedroom. The eerie background music appeared, and the audience's heart tightened in vain. The small toys and furnishings in the protagonist's bedroom in the film gave people a very weird and terrifying feeling...
As the film continued to play, the plane exploded, and the first person was designed to die, the film reviewers who were originally dismissive finally began to become serious. They have discovered the amazingness of this film.
When the movie reached a tense point, everyone's hearts were raised and their breathing was rapid. One of the reviewers even screamed.
The movie kept playing scene after scene, foreshadowing every turn, and thrills presented one after another, until they could not relax their bodies at all, as if they were being hung up.
When halfway through the movie, the movie stopped abruptly! The preview was over.
“This movie is good!!”
"We want it from Universal!!"
“Give us Paramount!!”
Several film reviewers who were originally amiable now saw how exciting the movie was, and they immediately turned on each other and started arguing with each other. As film reviewers with several years of experience, they all felt that this film was different from ordinary horror films.
.will definitely be popular in North America.
And their attitude towards Wang Shang also took a U-turn and became enthusiastic.
"Mr. Wang is really a genius!!"
"Mr. Wang, this movie is great! How did you come up with it?"
They completely forgot about their lukewarm attitude towards Wang Shang just now.
Wang Shang was not one to waste time waiting. After some dealings, he began to negotiate terms with them.
Now we just let them watch the movie and estimate the market for the movie.
Formal negotiations must at least wait until they return or call to ask for instructions. Only after receiving the authorization can formal negotiations be carried out.
The only thing that is different is Paramount's reviewer: "Mr. Wang, I am very optimistic about this movie. We at Paramount can pay 20% of the total box office in North America and provide 500 theaters."
, and at the same time, if Hollywood gets good results, the number of movie theaters will continue to increase. It will be distributed all over the world. It will also be released on CDs. I think many people will like to collect this kind of horror film."
"20%? 500 cinemas?" Wang Shang feels that the price offered by Paramount is very fair, but Wang Shang is undecided for now and will wait for the quotations from the other five film companies to come out.
"I'll think about it first. I'll get back to you after a while."
"Mr. Wang, not all other companies may want this film. Maybe in their opinion this is just a slightly better film and not worth spending a lot of money on."
After finishing speaking, Paramount's film reviewer finally revealed his final goal: "I wonder if Mr. Wang is interested in selling the film rights of "Transformers" to Paramount? Or cooperating in filming together?"
"Transformers?" Wang Shang was shocked. He didn't expect that Hollywood would notice it in just two months.
Seeing the expectant look on the Paramount reviewer's face, Wang Shang replied: "I won't consider it if it's for sale. However, co-production may be possible, but I won't consider it in the next two years. Let's wait until later."
Paramount's reviewers left disappointed.
In the following days, in addition to perfecting "Death Is Coming", Wang Shang also had to negotiate with several film companies.
Sure enough, as Paramount expected, not every movie company was optimistic about this movie. Only three companies had relatively high bids, and among them, Paramount gave the highest bid.
By the end of November, Wang Shang officially signed an agreement with Paramount for the distribution of "Death Comes" in North America and Europe.
The news that "The God of Death" will be released in North America and Europe soon spread back to China, which immediately aroused countless exclamations and praises for how awesome it is!!
You must know that not all movies can be released in the United States. Only five or six Chinese movies can get such treatment every year. This is not because the United States has import quantity restrictions, but because Chinese movies are not very popular with audiences in the United States.
, don’t accept the local atmosphere over there.
And the most important thing is that each time it is released, it can only be admitted to a maximum of 100 cinemas, and it is basically very few if any more.
Nowadays, "Death Comes" has been released through the film giant Paramount without any fanfare, and 500 theaters have been arranged in the first round. It is like a dream.
In addition, according to a gossip entertainment media, when classmate Zhao Baogang heard the news, he immediately fainted and was hospitalized~~
And the first words he said when he woke up were: "Hurry up and find a distributor!! We must release "Death Comes" to North America!!"