Chapter 464 Internal Conflict
"Yoozu Interactive was founded in 2009. It started out as a web game company and later transformed into mobile games. Its products include "Thirty-Six Strategies", "The Grandmaster", "League of Goddesses", etc. In 2017, it was named one of the top ten game brand companies in China..."
"Let's skip this part. I'm not interested in their growth process and reskinned web games." Meng Bai interrupted Hua Yan who was reading the information opposite, "Let's talk directly about "The Three-Body Problem." "
"Oh, okay."
Hua Yan responded and turned a few pages: "Lin Qi, the founder and CEO of Yoozoo Interactive, bought the film and television adaptation rights of "The Three-Body Problem" in 2014. In the following years, he continued to repurchase it until 2018 when he took back all the copyrights of "The Three-Body Problem". At the same time, he established the 'Three-Body Universe' company, which is specifically responsible for the development of "The Three-Body Problem."
"Since last year, due to the development of its own game business being hindered, Youzu has shifted its focus to the 'Three-Body Universe' and started to try film and television adaptation again. There is also a rumor that Youzu has had contact with Netflix some time ago, and it seems that they want to cooperate with them to develop English version of the film and television..."
"Netflix?"
Meng Bai frowned, but it was normal to think about it. The major domestic film and television companies are both eager and worried about the development of "Three-Body", especially the content of the first part involving "Red Shore".
If this part is not added, it will definitely be scolded by book fans and audiences. But if this part is added, they are afraid that it will not pass the review, so they are in a dilemma.
On the contrary, overseas companies like Netflix have no worries about the review and can adapt it at will.
But then again, Netflix has no revenue in the domestic market, and when adapting, it will definitely not be based on the acceptance of domestic audiences. It is hard to imagine what they will make of the English version.
"Boss, are we planning to shoot "Three-Body"?" Hua Yan couldn't help asking.
Meng Bai smiled: "Which film and television person wouldn't want to shoot such a world-class science fiction masterpiece?"
With a sigh, he said in a deep voice: "Let the company contact Youzu and tell them that Arclight is very interested in the film and television adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" and wants to have a chat with Mr. Lin."
"Okay, boss, I'll have someone contact them right away."
Seeing Hua Yan go out in response, Meng Bai turned around and looked at the sky outside, thinking about the situation of "The Three-Body Problem".
What he said just now was really not just a casual remark. As an excellent film and television practitioner, he is really interested in such a science fiction masterpiece.
Other film and television companies are worried about the review restrictions of "The Three-Body Problem 1", but for Arclight, it is not a big deal.
Since the establishment of Arclight, it has basically been dancing on the edge of the review line. They have sufficient experience in this kind of difficult "bone".
At worst, they can just make a web drama first. Anyway, he now has his own platform. As long as the copyright is settled, the upstream, midstream and downstream will all be connected, and they can directly produce and sell one-stop.
...
Meng Bai originally thought that this matter would take some time. After all, the other party would need to discuss it for a while after receiving the news.
Unexpectedly, only one day later, Youzu Interactive contacted him and expressed his interest in ArcLight's cooperation invitation and hoped to discuss it in detail.
In this case, Meng Bai did not deliberately hold back. As he was about to go to Shanghai on a business trip, he made an appointment with Youzu Interactive.
Upon hearing that Mr. Meng of ArcLight was going to come in person, Youzu's boss Lin Qi also became nervous. He immediately called and said that Mr. Meng could go anytime he had time, and Youzu would definitely make ready for him.
It must be said that Mr. Lin was also very enthusiastic.
In fact, Lin Qi was much more enthusiastic than Meng Bai expected.
"Hahaha, hello, Mr. Meng."
Downstairs of the Xuhui Huaxin Center Building in Shanghai, a middle-aged man of medium height and plump figure came to Meng Bai's car quickly, saying non-stop: "I should have gone to Arc Light, I'm really sorry to bother you to come."
"Hello, Mr. Lin." Meng Bai got out of the car, smiled and shook hands with the other party, "Don't be so polite, I just happened to have something in Shanghai, so it's just right for us to go together."
"That's good, that's good, otherwise I would feel bad for wasting Mr. Meng's time." Lin Qi said with a smile.
Unlike the image of a listed company boss, Lin Qi in front of him looked honest. If you don't look at the formal suit, he looks like a programmer.
However, Meng Bai has met too many people, and he can be sure after just a few words that this image is just the other party's disguise. From the shrewdness that flashes from time to time in his eyes, he must be a arrogant and ambitious person.
It's naturally impossible to sit down and talk directly when they meet for the first time. Lin Qi first took Meng Bai to visit Youzu's company.
"Hello, Mr. Lin!"
As soon as he entered the door, a charming greeting came from the side, which made Meng Bai stunned for a moment.
At the entrance of Youzu Hall, there were two rows of beautiful girls with thin waists and long legs standing, looking at them with bright smiles on their faces.
If he hadn't seen the office and workstations at the back, Meng Bai almost thought that he would be dealt a hand card next.
"Mr. Lin, this is..."
"Haha, sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Meng."
Lin Qi said with a smile, "We at Youzu are a gaming company. We often need to participate in exhibitions or promotions, and we often have needs for models and the like. That's why we set up a separate concierge department."
"Oh, so that's the case." Meng Bai grinned, "Mr. Lin is very enviable."
"Hey, Mr. Meng, you flatter me. I'm just a small model, a little cosplayer, and the like, just mediocre people."
Lin Qi clapped his hands and gestured to Meng Bai beside him, "Welcome, Mr. Meng, to visit Youzu Network."
As soon as these words came out, more than a dozen pairs of enthusiastic eyes looked at Meng Bai, and two rows of girls said in a delicate voice, "Hello, Mr. Meng!"
"Hello... ahem, you guys."
Meng Bai gave a polite smile and nodded to the young girls, then walked in as usual, leaving behind a group of lost looks.
Seeing this, Lin Qi was stunned for a second. He thought that in such a scene, any man would have a change of expression, but he didn't expect that Mr. Meng was not affected at all.
But it makes sense when you think about it. He is a big shot in the film and television industry. He is usually surrounded by various actors and idols. Any one of them can crush these little models. He is probably used to it.
But if this is the case, the program he arranged tonight may not be very good.
While worrying about how to arrange the evening, Lin Qi took Meng Bai to visit Youzu and also browsed the company's honor room.
Seeing the other party's faint complacency, Meng Bai nodded in his heart. This Mr. Lin is indeed quite proud of his own achievements.
But then again, he founded a company with a market value of tens of billions at the age of only 40, and he can indeed support this arrogance.
It was only when facing the younger and more outstanding Meng Bai that he restrained himself a little.
After a round of walking around, the people from both sides came to the conference room together. After a few pleasantries, they finally talked about the main topic of this time.
"Mr. Meng, we are honored to have you here in person. We won't beat around the bush." Lin Qi said, "In fact, we have been thinking about contacting Arc Light since the release of The Wandering Earth last year."
Meng Bai raised his eyebrows and said, "Mr. Lin, do you also want to cooperate?"
"Yes, apart from Arc Light, I can't think of any other team that can perfectly present a project of the magnitude of The Three-Body Problem."
As early as ten years ago, when The Three-Body Problem was still a niche work in the science fiction circle, Lin Qi liked this novel very much.
After Youzu Network got on the right track, he always wanted to buy the adaptation rights of The Three-Body Problem. As a result, after contacting the original author Liu Cixin, he found out that he had sold it to director Zhang Fanfan for 100,000 yuan two years ago.
Lin Qi contacted the latter, but the latter offered a dilemma: either pay an astronomical copyright fee, or make The Three-Body Problem into a movie and let him be the director.
Obviously, Director Zhang was also very optimistic about the value of The Three-Body Problem and hoped to become famous overnight.
The tug-of-war between the two sides lasted for a long time, until around 2014, when Lin Qi finally agreed to the second condition, and thus the legendary film version of "The Three-Body Problem" was made.
At that time, the film was actually quite big, with Liu Cixin personally directing and writing the screenplay, and starring a number of popular stars such as Feng Shaofeng, Zhang Jingchu, Wu Gang, Tang Yan, and Zhang Han.
Even 360's CEO Zhou Hongyi made a cameo appearance in it.
The investment in the whole film was as high as 200 million yuan, and Kong Ergou, who was the CEO of Youzu Pictures at the time, also promised to make it into a series of six films with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan.
However, Zhang Fanfan may be a very visionary film and television practitioner, but he is not a qualified director. The effect of the film was very tragic after it was finished. It was undoubtedly a bad film.
According to rumors, after the film was completed, a certain national leader happened to be conducting research in Shanghai. He himself was also a fan of "The Three-Body Problem", so he thought about watching it in advance. As a result, after watching the finished film, he was very dissatisfied with the quality and got up and left after watching half of it. It is
hard to say whether this news is true or false, but in short, there has been no news about the movie version of "The Three-Body Problem" since then. Later, Youzu had personnel changes, and a group of original executives such as Kong Ergou left, and there was no follow-up.
Perhaps after all these years, he finally recognized his own abilities. In short, a few years later, Director Zhang finally gave in and sold the film and television adaptation rights of "The Three-Body Problem" to Youzu.
Youzu naturally wanted to film this big IP. After all, only by adapting it into a film and television can the popularity of the IP be maximized, and the rest of the games, theme parks, and peripherals will also be valuable.
After the movie version of the incident, Lin Qi understood that this professional matter still needs professionals to do it, so he began to select a production team that meets the requirements. However,
science fiction is a niche among niches in the domestic film and television industry, and it is difficult to find one that meets the requirements.
It was at this time that "The Wandering Earth" was released, and the box office performance of more than 5 billion yuan immediately hit Lin Qi's mind.
Then, he learned about the soul figures behind the scenes of the movie, director Guo Fan and screenwriter Meng Bai, as well as Arclight Film and Television, the top film and television team in the domestic entertainment industry.
Isn't this the most suitable production team for "The Three-Body Problem"?
Originally, Lin Qi thought about contacting Arclight last year, but he was tied up by company matters and didn't have time. Then he encountered an unprecedented flu. It was not until the release some time ago that Youzu started the plan again.
In fact, if Meng Bai had given the order two days later, Youzu would have taken the initiative to contact Arclight.
Of course, now that both sides were sitting together, it didn’t matter who contacted who.
The two sides hit it off immediately, so within 20 minutes of sitting down, Lin Qi slammed the table and decided to give the rights to the TV adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" to Arclight Films for production.
"Adaptation of a TV series?" Meng Bai frowned slightly. "I wonder what Mr. Lin thinks about the adaptation of the movie version? In fact, we can give it to Arclight to produce together."
"Uh, Mr. Meng, I remember that Arclight seems to specialize in online dramas, right?"
"Arclight is indeed mainly engaged in online drama business, but it is not without film resources." Meng Bai introduced: "Hengten Network, which acquired Ruyi Pictures last year, can be regarded as the film part of Arclight. Mr. Lin has contact with the film and television industry and should have heard of it. Ruyi has also produced many popular movies in recent years."
"Ruyi? I seem to have heard of it." Lin Qi said: "It is not impossible to give the movie version to Arclight, but the prerequisite is that Director Guo Fan is to produce it."
"This... it's possible, but Director Guo has been focusing on the "Wandering Earth" series in recent years. If he directs it, it will take at least seven or eight years."
"Seven or eight years is a bit too long." Lin Qi said: "Mr. Meng, I won't hide it from you. In fact, regarding the production of the movie version, we have contacted Light Media before, and they are also very interested in this project."
"Light Media?"
"Yes, I talked to Mr. Wang from Guangguang. He thinks that a big production like "The Three-Body Problem" must be directed by some big-name directors. They have a deep foundation in the film industry and can be invited. For example, Director Zhang Yimou."
"Zhang Yimou? Filming science fiction?"
Meng Bai secretly complained in his heart. This matter itself sounds quite science fiction.
Lin Qi also heard the hidden meaning in his words and smiled and said, "Indeed, it is a bit... a bit strange to let Director Zhang film a science fiction movie, but it should be okay. At least there is no worry about whether those big scenes can be restored."
This is indeed true. With Zhang Yimou's ability, famous scenes such as "artificial computer" and "battle against water drops" can probably be restored well.
As for the plot, if it is filmed according to the novel, there should be no mistakes. But the problem is that it is Zhang Yimou. How can he honestly film according to the original novel? He must add many of his personal elements.
"What we hope most is definitely to let Director Guo Fan film it, but seven or eight years is indeed too long." Lin Qi said.
Meng Bai nodded: "It's okay, Mr. Lin, let's get it one thing at a time. We can talk about the movie version slowly, let's discuss the TV version first."
"No problem, I..."
Lin Qi was about to say something, but was suddenly interrupted by a noise outside the door.
"Wait, Mr. Xu, you can't go in. Mr. Lin is talking to a guest, it's not convenient to disturb him now..."
"Don't talk to me about this! Do you think I don't know that Mr. Meng from Arc Light is coming today? And you deliberately didn't notify me. Let go, let me pass!"
"I really can't, Mr. Xu, please don't embarrass me..."
"Bang!"
With a crisp sound, the glass door of the conference room was pushed open. Then, a middle-aged man wearing glasses rushed in, followed by a secretary who tried to stop him.
"Sorry, Mr. Lin, Mr. Xu insisted on coming in, we didn't stop him..." The secretary looked at Lin Qi cautiously.
At this time, Lin Qi's face had already darkened, and his original honest expression disappeared. There was a hint of ferocity and disgust in his expression, and he was obviously very dissatisfied with the man who suddenly broke in.
However, he couldn't get angry in front of Meng Bai, so he could only force a smile and waved to the secretary: "Since Mr. Xu is coming, let him come. Why stop him? You go out first."
"Yes."
The secretary responded and walked out with a bitter face.
The man who came in was not affected. After looking around, he looked at Meng Bai who was sitting in the C position.
"This must be Mr. Meng? Hello, my name is Xu Yao, and I'm the CEO of Three-Body Universe."
"Ah..."
Meng Bai suddenly realized that he felt that there seemed to be one person missing from today's discussion. Why didn't the person in charge of Three-Body Universe come?
I originally thought that Lin Qi wanted to wait until the cooperation was confirmed before handing over the details, but I didn't expect that he would just separate people.
He also had some impression of this Xu Yao. It was mentioned in the information collected by Hua Yan that this person was a lawyer at first, and was later poached by Lin Qi to Youzu. With his eloquence, he got the film and television adaptation rights of "The Three-Body Problem" from Director Zhang at a relatively reasonable price.
After that, he cooperated with Youzu to establish the "Three-Body Universe" and began to continuously recover the relevant copyrights of "The Three-Body Problem".
In a sense, it can be said that at least half of the credit for "The Three-Body Problem" in Youzu's hands belongs to him.
But at present, it seems that he and Lin Qi have a big conflict.
All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind, but Meng Bai still said politely on the surface: "Hello, Mr. Xu."
"Mr. Meng, I've heard of your name for a long time, and today I finally get to meet you." Xu Yao said: "As the person in charge of the Three-Body Universe, I very much welcome Arclight to be the producer of the film and television adaptation."
"Ah, thank you."
Only then did Lin Qi on the side finally force a smile and said: "Haha, I just told Mr. Meng that we all welcome Arclight to take over the production. Old Xu was out for something today, and I thought it would take a long time, so I didn't disturb him."
"Haha, Mr. Lin, what you said is not right, how can there be anything more important than receiving Mr. Meng." Xu Yao glanced at him, "Fortunately I wasn't too far away, and I hurried back when I heard that Mr. Meng was here."
"Haha, Old Xu is right, I didn't think it through."
Lin Qi laughed dryly twice, and the anger in his eyes became stronger.
Meng Bai actually wanted to see the excitement, but unfortunately his identity was not suitable. Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, he stood up and said, "Boss Xu must be busy. I won't bother you any more. Let's stop here for today. We can discuss the details of the cooperation later."
(End of this chapter)
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