Chapter Seventy-One: Paramount Pictures
October 28, 1998.
After more than a dozen days of hard work, Yifei Yang's Dream Illusion Film Company finally completed the filming of "Buried Alive", "Horror Cruise" and "Ghost Record" within the limited time.
In these dozen or so days, the person who paid the most attention to the progress of these three plays, apart from Yi Feiyang himself, was Mr. Gusta, the president of Shimeng Film Company.
As a former "good friend", Gus has always been paying attention to the new trends of Dream Movie Company.
Three-part play, more than half a month to complete the shooting, this task that many professionals think is impossible to complete, was easily solved by Yi Feiyang.
Needless to say, Yi Feiyang taught those who liked to mock him a lesson again, telling them what "miracle" means.
Gustave was also stunned by the work efficiency of this monster Yifeiyang.
Stroking his handsome eight-character beard, he thought carefully for a moment, and then Gustave made a decision.
"Go and call China Yi, just say I have something to talk to him about." Gusta boss instructed.
……
Lion's Gate Films Corporation
Inside President Gusta's office.
Yi Feiyang looked around at the newly decorated surroundings.
"Not bad at all, especially this oil painting, it's Napoleon riding a horse, very majestic!" Yì Fēi Yáng commented.
"Yes, it's Napoleon. He is my hero and idol. How to put it, I think he is the most legendary emperor in France and even Europe!" Gustave poured a glass of wine and handed it to Yifei Yang.
"It's a pity he ultimately lost, losing at Waterloo," Yì Fēi Yáng said.
"That's right, he was too careless, just like I am now, with you, I was too careless." Augusta didn't hide her emotions at all.
"Easy, I underestimated you. Really didn't expect you to come up with a new and weird ghost story. Can't deny it, Americans love this kind of stuff, the weirder and scarier the better. In fact, in some sense, the $3 million I spent on advertising isn't as effective as your little story."
"In other words, I've realized my mistake, so I'm willing to make amends...". Gusta paused for a moment, "If you're willing, I can collaborate with your newly established Dream Movie Productions and help distribute three films: 'Buried Alive', 'Cruise of Terror' and 'Ghost Record'. Yes, as long as you nod in agreement, we'll still be friends!"
"Friend?" Yi Feiyang held up his wine glass and took a sip, "Then can I ask, if we cooperate again, during the Halloween slot, how will you help me schedule? Will you push back 'The Witch' or my three plays?"
Gus looked a bit embarrassed and smiled, saying: "Yi, you're making things difficult for me. You know that even if we really sign a contract, we'll only be able to schedule your film after Halloween, because 'The Witch' is our main film."
That has been made very clear.
Yi Feiyang's Dream Illusion Films can only be the "second wife" of Halloween releases, and Gusta won't sacrifice his screening volume for him.
Yi Feiyang smiled in response to Gus's answer.
"I'm very sorry, but I can't accept a decision like this. Yes, there's some gap between your understanding... My film must be released during the Halloween season, I love this time slot!"
"Hahaha," Gusta laughed loudly, "Dear Yi, you're making it too hard for me! But then again..." Gusta stroked his beautiful little mustache, "Now that the Halloween files have arrived, who else can help you release those three plays besides me?"
This is no longer a negotiation, it's a threat!
Bare naked threat!
Yes, apart from our Lion's Gate Films, who else can help you screen three films on Halloween?!
It has to be said that Gusto is quite arrogant about this. As a new generation of Hollywood film companies, he is completely aware of the rules of the game in this circle.
Especially for a rookie like Yi Feiyang, he doesn't understand how important film distribution is in the entire industry.
Do you really think that by stirring up public opinion and heavily promoting your own movie, you can win at the box office? Wrong! Buddy! Big mistake!
In addition to production, there is also promotion and distribution of films.
Undoubtedly, as a newcomer, Yi Feiyang has done very well, at least bringing the product and promotion to the extreme... making the most of everything, with a small but great achievement.
But what about the release?
Buddy, haven't you figured it out yet?
If the movie can't be shown, then everything you've done is in vain!
Facing Gus's veiled "coercion", Yi Feiyang smiled, then said, "Thanks for your concern, dear friend, actually I've already found a partner!"
"This is impossible!" Gusta blurted out, "Who would cooperate with a new company like yours?"
Looking at Gus's extremely surprised expression, Yifeng said simply, "Paramount!"
Gustave was taken aback at once.
Paramount?
How is this possible?!
……
Yes, how come?
How did Paramount end up partnering with DreamWorks?!
Not just Gusta himself couldn't think of it, in fact, after Yi Feiyang received this news, he was also a bit stunned.
It's worth noting that Paramount is one of the seven major Hollywood film studios, known for its logo featuring a mountain surrounded by stars. In fact, using a high mountain to describe Paramount's position in the film industry is also very apt. In its first thirty years, the company sat on the throne of Hollywood with many stars, high-quality films and chain cinemas all over the United States. Its classic films, such as "The Godfather", "Saturday Night Fever", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Transformers", are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, earning it the nickname "the unattainable peak".
Of course, every big company has its ups and downs in development, Paramount is no exception.
If Paramount's film development had already reached the peak of its career, it was precisely because it was too strong that in recent years, Paramount was targeted by the US government's antitrust department, to the point where the Supreme Court issued the Paramount Decree, prohibiting Hollywood majors from vertically integrating production, distribution and exhibition. Paramount was forced to sell a batch of cinemas, and this old brand company suffered greatly as a result.
The icing on the cake was that Murdoch, the media mogul from Australia, stabbed Paramount in the back and poached its top executive Barry Diller to run his fourth network; subsequently, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg were also poached by Disney. After this, Paramount entered a period of formal decline.
A saying from the past goes like this: In the 21st century, what is most important? Talent!
Not bad, now Paramount, this originally towering snow-capped mountain, has triggered an avalanche, a talent avalanche!
Paramount without talent is like a giant wheel that has lost its helmsman, losing direction in the vast ocean.
During this time, Paramount's films were rarely heavy-hitters and due to a lack of talent, the studio's own productions were not particularly excellent either.
Just then, his old friend 21st Century Fox ran over and said, "Hey buddy, want to team up and do something big?!"
Paramount's CEO, Raymond, was worried about the lack of direction and investment in the company. However, after hearing Fox's plan, he was attracted to it, especially the huge investment plan and the director of the film, James Cameron, a renowned Hollywood director. The film would require an investment of $100 million, and its title would be "Titanic".
Newly appointed Paramount's Mr. Raymond, excited, finally has a movie project to showcase his abilities. If things go well, who will say I'm idle and drawing a salary under false pretenses?!
Moreover, there is a big director like James Cameron who can provide protection and support, his golden signboard is quite good.
The newly appointed Paramount executive then finalized a cooperation agreement with Fox's boss to co-invest in the epic film "Titanic".
The investment plan has started...
A year has passed, 10 million yuan was invested...
Two years have passed, 200 million has been invested...
Three years have passed, 300 million has been invested...
But what about the ship that was said to be the greatest of all time?
It's still not finished yet!
……
Damn it, this is too annoying!
As the director of this play, Mr. Cameron's first question when meeting him was no longer about the shooting progress, but "Is there money?"
At this time, Mr. Raymond of Paramount realized that he was not sailing with the wind, but had accidentally boarded a pirate ship!
Fox had no good intentions from the start, this is not "pulling brothers together", but rather "cheating you without a word", spending five years making a big movie, with an investment of 1 billion US dollars, increased to 2 billion US dollars, breaking the record for the largest film investment in history.
Mr. Raymond of Paramount started vomiting blood.
200 million US dollars of investment, what concept is this? !
Even if the movie is released now, it's impossible to recover the cost immediately!
What's more, that spendthrift director Cameron hasn't even finished filming yet!
"Hello God, I'm asking after your mother!"
Someone shouted.
At this moment, his mood, in a popular phrase from his past life... was totally screwed!
But fortunately, just last December, "Titanic" finally landed in major North American film markets, and although the box office performance was not good at first, Mr. Cameron even had suicidal thoughts, but then the box office began to show a miracle!
Yes, Titanic's box office started to get better, especially in the overseas market also received a very good show effect, the sensational effect made 1997 a turning point for Paramount.
However, due to the large investment in "Titanic", although the box office was good, there were conflicts with Fox over the distribution, and the two companies went to court. This not only wasted time but also money, and what's more annoying is that Paramount had previously been too aggressive, so the company's petty cash was depleted, and there was no extra funds to invest in other film projects, they could only play outside, hunting, buying some small companies' produced films, using their own studio line for release... Anyway, if the studio line was idle, it would be a waste, and making some money was better than nothing.
Just in time for Halloween.
It just so happens that Yi Feiyang's promotional "ghost story" for The Ghost Story is quite beautiful.
And newly arrived Paramount Raymon is a thorough "ghost story enthusiast", who loves to listen to some unusual stories.
Then, naturally, Paramount Pictures, which was worried about not having a movie to release, found DreamWorks and they hit it off immediately.
Yi Feiyang represented Meng Huan Ying Ye Company and signed a cooperation agreement with Paramount Pictures, the content is simple, mainly to determine how the box office will be divided in the future.
In Hollywood, there are three modes of box office revenue sharing between film producers and theater distributors.
The first is the traditional fixed allocation model.
For the traditional model of "one-time" determination of film box office revenue sharing ratio, Hollywood insiders have two attitudes. One is that only some small and micro-invested films and small films with little industry influence will give up the opportunity to adjust the film's revenue sharing ratio. These filmmakers are already very satisfied with the opportunity to enter the cinema line and will not take the initiative to request a floating or change in the revenue sharing ratio; another is that this approach is relatively stable and will still be accepted by most filmmakers.
The second is the box office tiered sharing model.
This model is actually applicable to some high-investment, high-quality films with high audience expectations and confidence from the producers.
The "tiered box office sharing model" represented by this year's "Saving Private Ryan", is to divide the box office revenue into grades and allocate the proportion of shares accordingly. The share ratio of the film side will generally increase with the increase in box office revenue. For example, when the box office revenue is within 200 million yuan, the issuer's share remains at 43%, exceeding 200 million yuan, the excess portion is shared at 45%, and exceeding 500 million yuan, the excess portion is shared at 47%.
"Box office performance is currently the only standard for measuring whether a movie makes money in the United States, and only films with strong box office power have the strongest box office control rights. The 'box office tiered accounting model' is currently Hollywood's most market-oriented floating film box office accounting model."
Third, the diminishing share distribution model for film releases.
The tiered box office revenue sharing model can extend the screening time for filmmakers and give a portion of the box office revenue to theaters, making it the most likely method to achieve a win-win situation for both parties.
Currently, most Hollywood blockbusters in the US adjust their revenue sharing ratio in this way: in the first week, the distribution company and theater chain split box office revenue 7:3, in the second week it's 6:4, and so on. The longer a film is shown, the higher the proportion of revenue that goes to the theater chain.
However, when Yi Feiyang and Paramount Pictures signed the revenue sharing agreement, they did not choose any of the above three models, but instead adopted a more novel or "bizarre" revenue sharing model, which is 25% in the first week, 35% in the second week, 45% in the third week, 55% in the fourth week...
When Paramount's representative saw this proposal, he laughed and thought to himself, "Isn't this self-inflicted? Don't they know that after a new movie is released, the box office is mainly concentrated in the first two weeks, and as time goes on, the box office will gradually decline? Even if you increase the share, it's useless if the box office isn't good. Moreover, the traditional revenue-sharing model is at least 40% to 60%, but this Chinese company actually proposed a 25% and 35% share for the first two weeks... Haha, aren't they afraid of having too much money?!"
Before Yifeng could even realize what was happening, Paramount's representative hastily signed a profit-sharing agreement with him.
After signing, Paramount's representative warmly shook hands with Yi Feiyang and secretly said: "You fool!!"
Yi Feiyang also warmly shook hands with him, secretly thinking: "You fool!"
