Chapter 872: Careful Thoughts
This intellectual property inspection organized by the State Council was at the invitation of the US side. Before boarding the plane, everyone had already been informed of a series of disciplines.
After the delegation landed in the United States, they followed the itinerary arranged by the U.S. government. They first visited the research institutes of several universities in New York, then visited the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Virginia, which is also one of the 14 subordinate bureaus of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and then went to Detroit to visit General Motors' automotive research institute.
In a week, half of the time is spent on traveling, and the rest of the time is spent on hurriedly sightseeing.
Because it was an official inspection, the discipline was strict and the time was tight, so Lin Weimin couldn't meet with friends and felt very uncomfortable during this week.
The only consolation is that I bought a few magazines and found that Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow was ranked third on the New York Times Book Review's bestseller list. This novel has been on the market in the United States for more than half a year, and it is still ranked at this position, which is enough to prove its popularity.
According to Roger Strauss, the sales of "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" exceeded one million copies in September.
"Hey, Weimin, look, is this a review of your novel?" Jin Ying asked, pointing to an article in The New York Review of Books.
The New York Review of Books sounds similar to the New York Times Book Review, but they are actually two magazines. It was founded in the 1960s and has a special publication schedule. It is not a traditional weekly or monthly magazine, but has two issues a month, one issue a month during the summer, for a total of twenty-two issues a year.
Almost all of the users of The New York Review of Books are high-level intellectuals in the United States. Although its sales volume is not as high as that of The New York Times Book Review, its influence is greater because of the high overall level of its readers. However, it has also been tainted with some of the arrogance of high-level intellectuals and is not very down-to-earth.
The New York Review of Books has always insisted on publishing in-depth and insightful long book reviews. This approach has meant that their book reviews have never paid attention to the so-called "timeliness". They can even publish a review of a novel published twenty years ago.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the book review of "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" was published at this time.
"Not bad, you can even read magazines now? It's not in vain that you learned English."
"Who are you looking down on?" Jin Ying rolled her eyes at him fiercely and ignored him.
The title of this article in The New York Review of Books is "The Shining Light of Humanity" and the author is Susan Sontag, an old acquaintance of Lin Weimin.
Susan Sontag is a writer as well as a critic. She has published several collections of reviews and holds a high status in the American critic circle.
Just looking at the title, you can't tell what it has to do with "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow", so Lin Weimin's words do seem to be insulting. After all, Jin Ying has read a lot of the content.
"It's just average." Jin Ying read it for a while and gave this evaluation, "It's mainly because the work is not good and the praise is too blunt."
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Comrade Xiao Jin, what you said is not true. You can say that the review is not good, but to say that the work is not good is a bit unrealistic."
While the two were bickering, the airport broadcast sounded, and they were about to board the return flight.
Jin Ying put the magazine in her hand on the chair and said with some regret: "I bought it for several dollars, and I just read it for a while."
"Just take it and let them have a look at it when you get back."
Jin Ying didn't do what Lin Weimin said. He teased her, "With your cautiousness, it would be a waste of your talent if you don't become a deputy leader of the country."
His teasing earned another eye roll from Jin Ying.
On the return flight, Lin Weimin recalled his experiences of the past week and could not help complaining: "It is really a torture to follow you officials on the inspection."
These days, everyone in the inspection team has become familiar with each other and no one minds his outspokenness.
Jin Ying said, "Don't be ungrateful. Vice Prime Minister Zhu specifically asked you to join this inspection team. Also, what do you mean by 'you officials'? Why are you here? Don't you know what's going on?"
"I am a career writer. We are different."
Jin Ying snorted coldly, "You are far-fetched, disorganized, and undisciplined. That's the kind of person I'm talking about."
The evaluation given to Lin Weimin by the Ministry of Personnel Tianguan was very accurate. It has spread in recent years and is always used as a joke by everyone.
After returning to Yanjing, before everyone disbanded, the team leader instructed everyone to submit an investigation report within a week. Lin Weimin could not help but sigh again.
It took several days to complete the investigation report, and this field investigation mission was completely completed.
November has arrived in a flash, and Yanjing has entered the winter coal-burning heating mode again. The air quality has been terrible these days. It is always foggy when you go out, which makes people feel depressed just by looking at it.
On the 7th, the beginning of winter, Han Zhuangzhuang took his family to Lin Weimin's house for hotpot.
It was said to be to celebrate the beginning of winter, but Lin Weimin thought it was just to show off his newly bought Mercedes-Benz.
"How is it? My car is nice, right?" Han Zhuangzhuang showed off his new car proudly.
Lin Weimin looked at the cars and said, "Driving a BMW, riding in a Mercedes. Who would buy a Mercedes and drive it themselves? It looks like a driver."
Hearing this, Han Zhuangzhuang couldn't help but retort: "Aren't you driving a Mercedes-Benz too?"
"When did I buy that Mercedes? Who would have taken me as a driver then?"
Han Zhuangzhuang felt a little depressed when he thought about himself driving a Mercedes-Benz and being criticized as a driver. He knew that his uncle was definitely criticizing him, but he also felt that what he said made some sense.
"If I were a driver, then you would be an experienced driver." He said desperately.
When it comes to meals, Han Zhuangzhuang's appetite is still astonishing. His daughter Xiao Nannan now also has the style of her father. She eats a lot of mutton and gets at least half a pound of meat with a chopstick tip. The key is that she doesn't gain weight even if she eats a lot.
After entering primary school, the little girl's height soared. She just turned ten years old, but she was already 1.6 meters tall, a head taller than her peers in school. She could hold a five-year-old baby like she was playing.
A few days later, Lin Weimin received a call from Yu Dong in Nihong.
At the end of October, Yu Dong led the crew of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" to Nihong to participate in this year's Tokyo Film Festival. The festival opened on November 1st and closed on the 10th. The award ceremony was just held this evening.
"That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" and the Bosnian film "A Perfect Circle" jointly won the Golden Kirin Award for Best Film in the main competition unit of this year's Tokyo Film Festival.
Founded in 1985, the Tokyo Film Festival is one of the earliest international film festivals held in Asia.
Since the inception of the Tokyo Film Festival, Chinese films and filmmakers have always been the biggest award winners here.
At the 1987 Second Tokyo International Film Festival, Wu Tianming's "Old Well" won three major awards including the Best Film, the International Film Critics Special Award, and the Tokyo Governor's Award. At the same time, Zhang Yimou also won the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in "Old Well".
At the fourth session in 1991, Huang Jianzhong's "New Year" won the Jury Grand Prix and Zhao Lirong won the Best Actress award.
At the 6th Awards in 1993, Cheng Kaige's Farewell My Concubine won the Best Picture and Best Director awards, Leslie Cheung won the Best Actor award, and Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Blue Kite won the Grand Jury Award.
In 1994, at the 7th Academy Awards, Yan Hao's "The Prodigal Son" won the Best Director Award.
In 1996, Wu Tianming's "Face/Off" won the Best Director award, and Zhu Xu won the Best Actor award.
Judging from the previous award-winning experience of domestic films, as long as the film wins the Best Picture or Best Director award, it is likely to win a Best Actor award.
This time, "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" is no exception and has inherited the glorious tradition of its predecessors. While winning the Best Picture award, the film's leading actor Liu Ye also won the Best Actor award at this year's Tokyo Film Festival.
Although Chinese films have won many awards at the Tokyo Film Festival, it does not prevent Yu Dong and others from being happy and excited about this award. Winning awards is other people's business, but "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" is the favorite child of Wenhua Investment.
What's more, it was very difficult to distribute this film after it was finished. The purpose of participating in the Tokyo Film Festival was to open up new markets through overseas markets and convert exports to domestic sales. Now things have really happened as they expected, and Yu Dong is naturally very happy.
Four days after the Tokyo Film Festival ended, Yu Dong returned to Yanjing. The first thing he did was to go to Lin Weimin’s office to report the results of his trip to Tokyo.
The Tokyo Film Festival has little influence worldwide, and the copyright trading market is relatively small.
Before "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" won the award, no one was interested in the copyright, and Yu Dong was discouraged for a while. This trip to Tokyo Mandarin Oriental cost real money, and the group spent nearly 100,000 yuan on air tickets, food and accommodation alone.
If the copyright cannot be sold this time, Wenhua will suffer a huge loss.
Fortunately, "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" performed well at the final closing ceremony, winning the Best Picture and Best Actor awards. The film immediately became a hot commodity at the film festival, and the copyright was much easier to sell.
In just one day, Yu Dong sold the copyrights to more than a dozen countries in Asia and Europe.
The copyright fee was not expensive, and the total sales amounted to only 350,000 US dollars.
But even a small thing is still meat, and selling the copyright can at least make a profit. The investment in the movie was less than 2 million, and now it has made a small profit.
Not only that, Yu Dong also negotiated with Toei Company about the release of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" in Nihonga. He was delayed on this matter for the past few days, otherwise he should have returned the day after the film festival ended.
Founded in 1949, Toei is one of the five largest film companies in Japan, with businesses spanning film production, distribution, cinemas, satellite TV, film rentals, etc. It is also the initiator and major shareholder of TV Asahi, and owns several subsidiaries including Toei Animation, Toei Recording, and Asahi Shimbun.
The style of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" is fresh and natural, and it won the love of many Nihong movie audiences during the film festival. Yu Dong successfully reached a distribution agreement with Toei, and the film will be released in Nihong in late November.
“If it’s really as you said, this movie should do well at the box office in China. Let’s see the results of its release in China. If it goes well, we’ll promote it appropriately and find a suitable schedule for its release,” said Lin Weimin.
The overseas copyright of the film has been sold and the investment has been recovered. Yu Dong's pressure is much less, and he replied, "Yes."
"President, Hero was also released in the United States two days ago, and the final box office was fixed at 163 million US dollars. The release in many countries in Europe and Asia is also coming to an end, and the total box office of the movie has reached 286 million US dollars. In terms of box office revenue, after deducting various costs, taxes and dividends, our Wenhua's net profit should be around 45 million US dollars. During this period, the box office revenue of various countries will be credited one after another."
"Hero" was invested with 100 million RMB, of which more than half was invested by Wenhua Company. Now that the movie is a big hit, the net profit is 45 million US dollars, which is 370 million RMB when converted into RMB. This is real cash flow and there is no room for fraud.
Lin Weimin nodded and said, "Not bad. Wenhua has achieved such results in its first attempt at a commercial production. It is already excellent enough."
As he spoke, a teasing smile appeared on his face. "The subsequent copyright income can also create a steady stream of cash flow for Wenhua. In addition, the box office revenue of this movie is more than our company's profit in several years. Wenhua is now a big customer."
Sometimes the leader's praise can also be a warning. In the past few years of work, Yu Dong has become more mature and more thoughtful than before. He feels that at this time, he should be more calm.
He has no connections in the Chinese Literature Society. Now that Wenhua is doing so well, he might be taken advantage of by someone else at any time.
So when Yu Dong heard Lin Weimin's words, he was not happy, but bowed his shoulders.
“Wenhua’s success is the company’s success. The success of Hero is inseparable from the strong support and help from you and the company.”
Lin Weimin stared at Yu Dong with interest. Under his gaze, Yu Dong's face gradually became stiff, his eyes became a little vague, and a layer of fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Yu Dong felt that the president seemed to see through his little thoughts clearly.
"Okay. Don't let your imagination run wild. I asked you to be the general manager of Wenhua because I value your ability."
Hearing this, Yu Dong felt relieved and said, "Yes."
(End of this chapter)
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