Chapter 928 Allies
"You want to remake 'Love is Not Blind'?"
To Lu Yanhe's surprise, the global box office success of "The Notebook" led to a surge in remakes of "Love is Not Blind" around the world.
It seems that everyone was pondering the possibility of remaking "The Notebook," only to find that the film was not so easy to adapt due to its war background and long timeline. Then, they turned to "Love is Not Blind," also written by Lu Yanhe and a romance film, but a more suitable urban romantic comedy for remake.
The film's themes, in particular, resonate with audiences worldwide.
After the remake rights were granted to South Korea, Japan, Thailand, France and other places, Soren even approached Lu Yanhe to buy the remake rights to "Love is Not Blind".
"Love is Not Blind" has grossed over $13 million at the US box office.
Several companies had previously approached Linghe, wanting to buy the rights to remake "Love is Not Blind." However, Wan Qingqing stated that she wanted to make her own American version of "Love is Not Blind," so Linghe did not grant the American remake rights to the film.
This time, Soren went directly to Lu Yanhe.
After understanding the situation, Lu Yanhe explained it directly to Soren, saying that they would do it themselves.
Soren immediately responded that after Linghe produced the film, he would also handle its global distribution. Since Linghe did not have a global distribution channel, Soren could take care of it.
Lu Yanhe was extremely surprised.
Before a movie has even started filming, Soren is happy to take over the distribution; in a way, it's like a pre-arranged deal.
This is actually quite rare for a film like this.
Lu Yanhe, however, was considering Soren's proposal.
Indeed, Linghe has not yet established its own global distribution channels. Their advantage lies in the fact that they have built their own global distributor network, which essentially still involves intermediaries.
This means they need to negotiate with each company individually, which is actually quite laborious.
Often, while Linghe could license a film to distributors in various regions, they would prefer to divide it into regions to save time and effort. They would split the global market into several large regions, thus reducing communication and negotiation costs.
For example, with the later installments of "Home Alone," Midoriya handled the distribution for the entire North American and European regions. They no longer had to find distributors separately in different places like North America, France, Germany, and Italy.
Soren directly wants to acquire the global distribution rights for "Love is Not Blind". To put it bluntly, the film rights are still in Linghe's hands, and Soren only earns the distribution commission. Of course, as long as "Love is Not Blind" makes money at the box office, Soren will not lose money no matter what. The production costs are borne by Linghe (except in cases where the distributor is also the producer or the distributor offers a high price guarantee to grab the distribution rights).
However, given the current positions of Linghe and Sauron, Sauron will definitely have to pay a high price to secure the distribution rights in advance, and Sauron will also have to share the risks with them. On the other hand, Linghe, by selling its global distribution rights in advance, has significantly reduced its production risks.
Furthermore, with Soren's global distribution as a guarantee, this urban romance film can secure higher sponsorship and product placement fees. If managed properly, it may break even before filming begins, given the typically low production costs of this type of film.
No matter how you look at it, Linghe is the one who benefits.
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“This is something that happened after Soren got a taste of success with the box office of The Notebook and started planning a framework for a three-film collaboration with you,” Darren Wilson said with a laugh. “You know, there are a lot of people in Hollywood who are laughing at D19 now. They were the ones who started working with you first, but in the end, Midoriya and Parameter established a longer-term working relationship with you.”
Lu Yanhe said, "My cooperation with D19 has not stopped, and there will be further cooperation later."
“That’s right. They got the English remakes of both Linghe films, which caused quite a stir in Hollywood—especially since both remakes still used the original cast,” Darren Wilson said. “Everyone said they’d crossed all the lines to rebuild a working relationship with you.”
Remakes are not uncommon in Hollywood, but it is rare for a remake to use the original cast.
Typically, the original director or screenwriter participates in remakes as an advisor or producer.
Lu Yanhe: "Is it really that unacceptable to use the original actors in a remake?"
“Of course.” Darren Wilson nodded. “Although there are now many Asian faces in Hollywood movies, it is still a place that primarily targets the North American market. What people are most interested in and most willing to watch are stories about people who look like them or are familiar with them.”
Lu Yanhe nodded; he understood that point.
"Of course, the market is always changing. Not to mention twenty years ago, even ten years ago, Hollywood basically didn't have any movies with Asians as the main characters. Now, there are quite a few. As you know, the Asian population in the United States is growing, and as more and more movies with Asian protagonists achieve success, the attitudes of major film companies will gradually change."
Everything is about money.
Lu Yanhe understood the thinking of these Hollywood companies, but how should he put it?
Everyone has things they want to do and goals they want to achieve.
China's market doesn't want people from other countries to make money, but everyone understands that market circulation is essential for development. It still needs to be open to the outside world, and that's why so many overseas companies come to China to make money.
If you, Hollywood, want to do global business, and I can bring you business and profits, you have to meet some of my requirements. You can't have it all, right?
In business, it's a matter of mutual consent.
So, whatever you think.
I didn't ask you to lose money in this business. If using the original film's protagonist caused you to lose money, then this whole thing wouldn't be sustainable. If you didn't lose money, then you should all shut up.
D19 collaborates with him, Parameter collaborates with him, Midoriya collaborates with him, and Zoro also collaborates with him.
Hollywood, a place of immense size, only has a handful of top-tier film studios.
He had almost completed half of the collaboration.
If you're so capable, kick him out and unite the entire industry to boycott him.
The problem is, who's willing to spend that money?
Lu Yanhe increasingly realized that you can't put all your eggs in one basket, and that the more common interests you have, the more allies you'll have to defend and protect you.
Therefore, he will inevitably encourage his friends to work together to open up international markets and increase his number of allies.
This principle applies everywhere.
“I’ll help Mengli out by getting her character included in the spin-off movie to give her a more central role in the second season,” Lu Yanhe told Zhou Pingan over the phone. “But you also need to help Chenghai get an important role in the second season.”
Zhou Ping'an was taken aback, "Cheng Hai?"
Under Zhou Ping'an's command are Ma Zhiyuan, who has already been favored by Zhang Yuezhen, Lang Xia, who is about to join his ranks, and Cheng Hai, who has always followed him.
Lu Yanhe said, "Whether it's Ma Zhiyuan or Lang Xia, at least when I was making 'The Seventeenth Floor,' I didn't want to see them appear. If you want to push Meng Li, then push Cheng Hai along with her. This matter has nothing to do with me. Don't expect to push me in front of Chen Pinhe. You can hide yourself, but don't think you can hide yourself. How could Zhang Yuezhen let you stay out of it?"
Zhou Ping'an: "...You want to poach Cheng Hai from me too?"
"Don't judge a gentleman by your own petty standards. I just don't want the good stuff to go to outsiders," Lu Yanhe said. "I really wanted to dig a sea of ideas. I had already done it when he participated in 'The Birth of an Actor.' I wouldn't wait until now. We've known each other for a long time, and I'll give him a helping hand whenever I can."
Without saying anything, given Cheng Hai's relationship with him and their many years of friendship—even though Cheng Hai was Zhou Ping'an's artist, he had never harmed him or asked him for any resources based on their past relationship.
Zhou Ping'an would even have Li Zhibai and Yan Liang ask him for the script. Lu Yanhe didn't believe that Zhou Ping'an had never said such a thing to Cheng Hai, but Cheng Hai had never done it.
Cheng Hai is still the same captain he always was, with a gentle personality, taking care of everyone, and never troubling anyone.
Even after regaining popularity through "The Birth of an Actor," the first thing he did was take on a role in a newly started "Jump Up Theater" production, as a way of returning the favor.
If a bridge is truly needed to connect the two versions of "The Seventeenth Floor," then for Lu Yanhe, if Meng Li is the one who openly undermines Chen Pinhe, then Cheng Hai is the "secret operation" that Lu Yanhe is truly willing to open the door for.
To control?
Lu Yanhe thought to himself—for a moment, he inexplicably felt like the male protagonist of a revenge novel—Zhou Ping'an, I, Lu Yanhe, am no longer the same as before.
Then, Lu Yanhe started digging his toes into the ground.
How can you direct and act in a drama that makes you feel embarrassed?
(End of this chapter)
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