Chapter 916 Hollywood Blockbuster
In mid-April, Lu Yanhe also held an online meeting with Chen Yin, Chen Ziyan and others to discuss the production of the three spin-off films of "The Seventeen Floors".
"Of the three spin-off films of 'The Seventeen Floors,' we decided to start with the character of Teacher Jiang Jun," Chen Yin said. "Teacher Jiang Jun is one of the most internationally renowned and highest-grossing Chinese actors. With him leading the way, everyone has more confidence."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Apart from you not returning as a lead actor, we have already communicated with the other actors, and they are all willing to return. The approach we are taking is a '1+1+1' lead actor structure," Chen Yin explained. "For example, in Jiang Jun's series, another lead actor, Lin Chan, will join the cast, and we will also find an actor who has not participated in the 'Seventeen Floors' universe before, forming a three-lead actor model."
"The one starring Chen Bige is co-starring Yan Zhimeng. The one starring Li Yuefeng is starring Shen Yue."
Lu Yanhe understood.
To put it bluntly, of the seven main actors in the original TV series, apart from him, each series featured a lead actor with box office appeal leading another lead actor, and then an actor was brought in from outside.
This is the safest and most secure approach.
Lu Yanhe said, "That's good. Have they all agreed?"
“Yes, they all agreed,” Chen Yin said. “Of course, HP has been trying to persuade us to let you return, or at least make a cameo appearance.”
Lu Yanhe said, "Do you think it's necessary for me to return?"
“We hope not,” Chen Yin said frankly. “Because we hope to use these three spin-off films as a starting point to build the Seventeen Floors universe in the future. This is not only for HP, but also for various other possibilities. Your return as the lead actor will be a trump card for us in further negotiations. We can’t let them get what they want so easily.”
Lu Yanhe nodded, "Okay, I understand."
Chen Yin: "For these three spin-off films, we wanted to invite director Lian Bei to direct, but HP had a different opinion. They wanted to find a top-tier director from Europe and America to direct. They probably finally managed to get the 'Seventeen Floors' franchise from Maxine, and now they want to compete with Maxine Chen Pinhe's 'Seventeen Floors' spin-off films, so they want to increase their investment and use top-tier directors from Europe and America to further open up the market for this IP in Europe and America. After all, 'Seventeen Floors' was mainly a hit in the Asian market before. In Europe and America, it was famous, but it didn't create a craze like 'The Squid Game'."
Lu Yanhe: "Did Tom White say that?"
"He relayed that HP was the main investor in these spin-off films, and they wanted to use top-tier European and American directors in order to make the films better. Before discussing this with you, I couldn't refuse outright," Chen Yin said.
“We had to refuse. Lian Bei is the soul of ‘The Seventeenth Floor,’ including the script by Feng Qiyue,” Lu Yanhe said. “If we’re going to use the original cast, we have to keep these core creators. Since I’m also a producer on these three films, I have to be responsible for the content. You tell Tom White that I insist on having Lian Bei direct these three spin-off films. Without him, even if we hire top-tier directors from Europe and America, these three films are very likely to flop at the box office.”
Chen Yin agreed.
Chen Ziyan asked, "Yan He, are you going to use your own reputation to guarantee Lian Bei's safety?"
“It doesn’t make sense that I could let Fu Kai direct the Men in Black series when I collaborated with Soren, but now we’re kicking out the original director for The Seventeenth Floor, an IP we created ourselves.” Lu Yanhe said seriously, “Moreover, The Seventeenth Floor IP comes from our trilogy, so it’s authentic and original. Lian Bei is the creator, and he and Feng Qiyue are extremely familiar with this world view and these characters, and they have a complete concept. Kicking Lian Bei out is a joke.”
Chen Ziyan: "I also don't agree with letting top-tier European and American directors direct. If there are disagreements on the creative direction, whose opinion should we listen to?"
“Yes,” Lu Yanhe said. “These three spin-off films are the copyright issues we resolved, and they are also what we want to use to compete with the spin-off films from Beijing TV and Maxine Chen Pinhe’s version. If we can’t take control of the creation process, how can we guarantee the quality of the films?”
“That’s right,” Chen Ziyan said. “Chen Yin, you and Tom White arrange a time, and I’ll go with you to talk to him in person and clear things up.”
"good."
"Furthermore, we also reserved 8% of the investment for Green Valley for this film, allowing them to get involved early and ensure the overseas distribution of these films in the future," Lu Yanhe said. "We also asked them to send people to communicate with HP, because we don't only have HP as a partner in Europe and America."
Chen Ziyan nodded and said okay.
Are there any other spin-off films of "The Seventeen Floors" that need to be discussed?
“Yes.” Chen Yin nodded. “For these spin-off films, should we bring in A-list Hollywood stars? Our initial plan was to invite actors from different countries, such as Chaina from Thailand, Ayaka Yoshimoto from Japan, and Tania Bailey from Germany…”
These actors are either foreign actors who have signed or collaborated with Shihu, or foreign actors who have collaborated with them in the past.
However, none of them are Hollywood actresses.
In other words, they are not actors with great global fame.
Lu Yanhe said, "We must invite him."
He made his decision very quickly.
“This is a commercial film. Since it’s a film production, the visual effects are definitely more sophisticated and thrilling,” Lu Yanhe said. “To some extent, although its production cost is not as high as those real commercial blockbusters, it is comparable in terms of visual effects and genre scale. We want every film to look star-studded. We can refer to the casting direction of the film ‘Flypaper’. Only in this way can the film be known to a wider audience.”
Chen Yin said, "So, which Hollywood actors would be most suitable?"
Lu Yanhe said, "We have already finalized some roles. As for the Hollywood actor roles, you can leave it to Midoriya and HP to consider. They will find suitable candidates."
"good."
Chen Yin said, "These are the things we need to discuss for the 'Seventeen Floors' spin-off film. Now there is another project. D19 contacted us not long ago and wants to remake 'Summer Night Villa Horror' and 'The Corpse.' Actually, it's not just them. Many production companies from other countries also want to remake them. Because we have sequel production plans for both of these films, we haven't sold the remake rights yet. But D19 is the most famous film company in the world that makes thriller and horror films. If they remake them, it will greatly help the international popularity of these two IPs. So I'm a little unsure whether to make them or not."
Lu Yanhe said, "If D19 is being remade at this stage, and it's acceptable for the main actors from these two films to continue playing the main characters in the Hollywood remake, then we can sell it."
Chen Yin was momentarily puzzled.
At first glance, Lu Yanhe's idea doesn't seem to suggest that he intends to let D19 acquire the remake rights at all.
He simply couldn't believe that D19 would agree.
However, upon closer examination, it seems that it might not be a bad idea.
First of all, many Hollywood movies now use Chinese people as the main characters, and this is no longer a ceiling.
Secondly, there's D19. D19 is a film company that has profited immensely from exploiting racial themes. The "Misty" film series made them a fortune, and Lu Yanhe also launched his box office legend in Europe and America with this series.
Chen Yin hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Why is that?"
Lu Yanhe said, "Hollywood rarely remakes movies frame by frame according to the original. They usually only retain some core creative settings and story core. So even if it is a remake, it is a brand new movie for many viewers. For Li Yuefeng and Wang Jing, this will be their opportunity to step into Hollywood directly."
Lu Yanhe could tell what Chen Yin was thinking from his face—
However, Li Yuefeng and Wang Jing were not contracted actors with Shi Huo.
Lu Yanhe said, "They can all be considered our Linghe's deep partners. Most importantly, we have to admit that the success of both films, 'Summer Night Villa Horror' and 'The Corpse,' is largely due to their willingness to take on the leading roles. Why not give them a push at crucial moments? By the way, besides them, there's another point: the original director and screenwriter must also participate in the production of the Hollywood remake, provided they are willing to participate. I hope that more and more Chinese creators will see how the top production companies make a film. I used to think that Hollywood only had strong global distribution capabilities, but after working with them for so long, I realized that they have experience and expertise that are ahead of us in every aspect, especially in the production of commercial films."
“Okay,” Chen Yin said. “I understand. I’ll go talk to them.”
-
Lu Yanhe's demands were forceful.
However, after working with Lu Yanhe on two "Mist" films, D19 already knew his character and how to conduct himself.
His "preference" and "inclination" to use Chinese people in various film and television projects is well-known and never concealed. His request did not even surprise D19.
D19 simply needs to assess whether remaking these two films with the original Chinese actors as leads will help D19 generate profits.
On one hand, they were conducting relevant research, and on the other hand, they were somewhat frustrated. To put it simply, D19 spends every year searching for good stories in film markets around the world, buying the rights, including remakes of high-quality works from various regions. The one who could so forcefully make these demands was Lu Yanhe.
Currently, only Lu Yanhe is mentioned.
They found themselves in a very uncomfortable state—
Your two stories aren't anything special or amazing; it's just that you can ask for such exorbitant prices because the copyright belongs to Lu Yanhe.
Hollywood doesn't need to endure this kind of frustration.
Actually, you don't have to buy it.
Even so, they still put their emotions aside.
"The Corpse" and "Summer Night Villa Horror" not only achieved good box office results in China, but also earned tens of millions of US dollars in overseas box office thanks to the global distribution channels established by Linghe.
Is it difficult to achieve tens of millions of dollars in overseas box office revenue? To say it's not difficult is to be ignorant. Every year, besides American films, how many films can achieve tens of millions of dollars in overseas box office revenue outside their home country?
But to be honest, if you really establish your distribution network, you might sell for millions of dollars in one market and hundreds of thousands of dollars in another. Once you've sold in fifty or sixty markets, there's no guarantee that one of them will become a hit.
Both "The Corpse" and "Summer Night Villa Horror" achieved their overseas box office success in this way.
Especially in Asia.
The success Linghe has achieved overseas in recent years, thanks to Lu Yanhe's various films and television dramas, is not simply due to the box office success of these works themselves.
Nevertheless, although one could argue that the overseas box office success of these two films was due to their extensive distribution channels—
In other words, isn't the same true for Hollywood movies? How much box office revenue would a Hollywood movie get if it were distributed by British or South Korean film studios?
Does this prevent the copyright value of Hollywood movies from becoming more valuable?
Well, whether it's "Summer Night Villa Horror" or "Corpse Image," the reality is that it's not worried about selling, and it doesn't want to sell at the moment. Linghe himself wants to continue developing sequels.
Now that you, D19, are buying it, I'll make an exception for you and offer some conditions. If you agree, I'll sell it to you.
If you're not happy about it, then forget it. We're not really keen on selling right now anyway.
With that attitude in mind, Linghe holds the initiative.
D19……
We have no choice but to accept it.
Upon further consideration, if these two films were made into English versions and packaged in a Hollywood style, they would have a real chance of achieving high box office returns.
Yes, you can still make money.
-
In late April, Lu Yanhe and Xi Ke finally finished all the location shooting and moved to Los Angeles to start shooting green screen scenes in the studio.
The photography studios where he, Jiang Yuqian, and Jiang Jun were located were less than five kilometers apart.
Therefore, Lu Yanhe immediately invited them out for dinner.
Besides the two of them, Lu Yanhe also invited Derian Dylan, the male lead of "Doomsday", and his partner Sidke from "Men in Black".
Delien is also the Hollywood star who collaborated with Lu Yanhe on "Hurricane 2".
Five people were eating together, and they all spoke English.
Jiang Jun and Jiang Yuqian now speak fluent American English.
Language barrier was not a problem for either of them.
Delan Dylan's participation in "Doomsday" was facilitated by Lu Yanhe behind the scenes.
The purpose at the time was to squeeze Chen Pinhe out of the project.
For Delan Dylan, getting the Doomsday project and achieving box office success is naturally a good thing.
He had always had a good impression of Lu Yanhe.
Unfortunately, in Hollywood, "kings don't meet"—
It's almost impossible to get Lu Yanhe to make a cameo appearance in a Delian Dylan film like he did in "Hurricane 2".
Unless one day Derian Dylan makes a cameo appearance in Lu Yanhe's film.
They might continue to reciprocate each other's kindness.
Of course, this does not affect their private relationship.
If we maintain good relations, we can cooperate in various fields, including film and television projects.
The five of them ate together, took a group photo, and then Jiang Yuqian posted the photo on social media.
The main cast of "Men in Black" and "Doomsday 2" reunited.
Since nothing else of note happened that night, major entertainment media outlets around the world published this photo as their front-page headline.
One American media outlet used the headline, "Hollywood blockbusters are starting to be taken over by the Chinese!"
(End of this chapter)
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