In the reception room of Embassy Pictures, Ronan met Ang Lee, a director who was once down-and-out in Hollywood, and now he is in high spirits, as if he has reached the apex of his life and career.

Ronan asked, "I heard that Director Ang Lee returned to the East some time ago?"

"Took a trip back. Ang Lee returned to his hometown and came to Hollywood again, and his mood was very different: "The two sides of the strait and three places have gone, and the fans are too enthusiastic." ”

He seemed to be very emotional: "I also met some colleagues and discussed some things about film. ”

Ronan nodded, he could fully understand Ang Lee's mood, with the Oscar honor, with the general situation in this era, the treatment that Ang Lee could receive must be grand and grand.

Even, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the first person in the Chinese film industry.

"Have you met Director Zhang?" Ronan said with a name.

At the Oscars, Yu Jiaolong once conveyed that the other party seemed to want to meet him.

Ang Lee said: "I've seen it, and we've been chatting for a while, as if he is also going to shoot a martial arts movie." He shook his head: "This is not good, he is a master of literary films, and he should not follow the trend." ”

Ronan was noncommittal and said: "In fact, the commercial film industry all over the world is the same, a movie is a big success, and the following works are flocking. ”

Ang Lee is already a completely Hollywood director, and of course he knows this situation, so he can only sigh lightly.

After listening to Ang Lee's words, Ronan gradually determined what might be behind the words conveyed by Yu Jiaolong, maybe Yu Jiaolong himself didn't understand, but as a person who came over, he naturally understood the Oscar plot of that Zhang Guoshi.

The era of big business in Oriental films is finally about to begin.

No matter what the reputation or quality of that martial arts movie is, no matter what Zhang Guoshi's original intention is, it has played a huge role in promoting the rise of the oriental film market after all.

It was also after this film that the oriental film industry and the film market began to enter the fast lane of development.

Unfortunately, the sharing clause could not be re-signed until after 2010, and the 13% share of the imported account-sharing films was too low.

When the time is right, can we unite the forces of Hollywood and push for a revision of the agreement?

Ronan believes that it is very difficult, at least for now, that Hollywood's film share over there has never been a problem with the film industry, but as part of the WTO agreement between the two sides, which involves the political and economic game between the two countries, which can be said to affect the whole body.

The role that a single person, or even a group, can play in this is very limited.

For the time being, we can only wait.

However, Zhang Guoshi's masterpiece can be considered, and if you have time in the future, you can go there for a turn, inspect the market by the way, and inspect overseas offices at the same time.

Ronan had a casual conversation with Ang Lee while thinking, and the topic soon came to Ang Lee's new movie.

"I wonder if Director Li has a new work plan?" Ronan asked directly, "I heard that Universal Pictures is in contact with Director Li?"

These are all Hollywood news on the surface, and they will not touch personal privacy.

Li An smiled and said, "I plan to take a month off first. He didn't deny his contact with Universal: "People at Universal Pictures were really talking to me and wanted me to direct a big production. ”

Ronan asked curiously, "Can you know what kind of subject matter or content it is?"

Universal Pictures has not asked for secrecy, and the release of the news is just to warm up the hype, Ang Lee said directly: "A comic book adaptation of the movie, "The Incredible Hulk". ”

Hearing the name, Ronan had a feeling that it was indeed the case, and asked, "Are you going to take this directorial job?"

Ang Lee thought about it and felt that there was nothing bad to say: "The big framework has been almost discussed, and the remaining details have not yet reached an agreement with Universal Pictures." ”

"Comic book adaptation of movie ......" Ronan originally wanted to remind.

But thinking of the bunch of Marvel superhero movie copyrights in his hand, as well as future plans, I endured it again.

Ang Lee didn't say much about working with Universal Pictures, chatted with Ronan about film for a few more minutes, and quickly left Embassy Pictures.

Ronan watched Ang Lee leave, sitting on the sofa, his head full of question marks, and he didn't know who Ang Lee and Universal Pictures had cheated on the project "Hulk".

In the words of literature and art, it means that at the wrong time and in the wrong place, the two sides had a wrong encounter.

In the eyes of many Orientals, compared with Ang Lee's early "The Wedding Banquet", "Pushing Hands", and "Eating Men and Women", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is not an excellent work.

Therefore, everything that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has gained in North America has largely exceeded the imagination and expectations of the East, and perhaps the "cultural differences" can be summed up in a word.

Perhaps it was the "cultural difference", or perhaps the Oscar halo overshadowed the rest, and Universal Pictures decided to let an oriental literary film director operate an American commercial comic book film.

It is undeniable that Ang Lee has his own advantages, such as being able to create characters more delicately on the basis of retaining the Hollywood model, and at the same time bring some fresh perspectives to the movie that are different from Hollywood.

But Ang Lee couldn't find the exact balance between business and personal style within Hollywood's more commercial system.

In the last years of Ronan's previous life, how to make a manga superhero movie to explode, I am afraid that many ordinary fans can say some consensus.

For example, the tight rhythm, exquisite special effects, hot scenes, and continuous climaxes and explosions that excite the audience.

And these are exactly the opposite of Ang Lee's personal style.

Under heavy pressure, Ang Lee only preserved his own personal style, and could not take care of anything else.

In the previous life, there was also a saying: Ang Lee cheated Universal Pictures.

Universal Pictures gave Ang Lee full trust, huge power, including the power to get infinitely close to the final editing rights, and as a result, Ang Lee created a popular commercial film with a strong personal style, made an auteur film, and then slapped his ass and left, leaving Universal Pictures in a mess.

This statement is definitely unreliable, the director cherishes his reputation, thinking about the situation of Ang Lee after the failure of "The Incredible Hulk", and knows that he can't do it on purpose.

But Ang Lee did make "The Incredible Hulk" an auteur movie.

It's long, it's serious, and there's not as much action as one would expect, and it's not comfortable to watch, and there's no sense of "superheroes saved us, I'm full of positive energy" excitement

Maybe Ang Lee doesn't want to shoot superheroes at all, he just wants to film how an unfortunate man is torn apart by his grotesque abilities, and focus on this absurdity.

As a result, Ang Lee fell very badly, and Universal Pictures was also very miserable, and Marvel, who originally wanted to follow behind to fight the autumn wind, once again doubted life.

The adaptation of "Spider-Man" was successful, and the adaptation was also very large, and Marvel felt that its heroes were not inferior to Batman, and they were still quite marketable.

In the blink of an eye, "The Incredible Hulk" hit the streets, Marvel was shocked, and the hero was not very good in the film market.

It is said that Marvel's top management can get up from countless blows, and finally press almost all the chips to bet on "Iron Man", and the nerves are really not ordinary tenacity.

In Ronan's point of view, in fact, this cooperation between Ang Lee and Universal Pictures can be summed up in one sentence: Ang Lee took the superhero Hulk to make a literary feature film.

If it was ten years out at night, maybe some people would say that the angle was unique and would not be so miserable.

Ronan did not get involved in Universal's cooperation with Ang Lee, let alone prevent Universal Pictures from contacting Ang Lee, and he had no reason to stop it.

Presumably, Ang Lee also needed a subject matter with a wider audience, and he hit it off with Universal Pictures, signing a formal directing contract with Universal Pictures for "The Incredible Hulk" in early April.

Universal Pictures also took advantage of Ang Lee's Oscar effect to announce the schedule of "The Incredible Hulk", a comic superhero movie, which was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 2003.

A little more than two years was left for Ang Lee to plan, shoot and post-production.

Ronan can only say that he is looking forward to the day when "The Incredible Hulk" will be released, after all, only then will it be possible to get the copyright of the Hulk from Universal Pictures.

Even if it's like Marvel in the previous life, it's good to just get part of the copyright, and it's a big deal not to make an independent movie about the Hulk.

Directors are relatively scarce resources in Hollywood, and Ronan's Shahai Entertainment has also determined a director candidate.

After some twists and turns in "Death 2", it was decided that Guillermo del Toro, who completed "Deadly Bend", would be in charge.

Because the film market will inevitably be impacted in the second half of the year, this sequel film was postponed by Ronan until next year.

In the release schedule released by Embassy Pictures, none of the films will be released after September, without the intervention of Ronan without a trace.

Basically all the screenings are scheduled for the first half of the year.

"House of the Dead" in late April, "Shrek" released overseas in mid-May, "Spy Shadow" in June, "Fatal Bend" in July, and early August are two small productions purchased by the film department from overseas.

Beginning in April, Embassy Pictures will release films every month, most of which involve North American and overseas distributions.

Also in early April, on the New York Times bestseller list sent by assistant Connie, Ronan saw a memorable name - "Summer of Jeans".

When Ronan saw the title of the book, he remembered the related film, the famous "Queen S" Blake Lively's famous work.

After looking for someone to check the copyright, the film and television adaptation rights were still in the hands of the author, and Ronan immediately notified Robert Lee and asked him to add the name of "Summer of Jeans" to the copyright purchase list.

Now that he has gained something, Ronan has paid more attention to the New York Times bestseller list, and maybe he can continue to see works on it that he ignored but remembered the movie by name.

With the weekend approaching and the work at hand put aside for the time being, Ronan made an appointment with the real estate agent to get ready to see the house.

This is self-housing, and you must not go overseas to buy it, otherwise it will be inconvenient to fly to and from work, and Ronan has some funds in his hands, not to mention the income from producers and company positions, just the script provided by the screenwriter, not only has buyout income, but also follow-up copyright sharing income.

What Ronan offers to the company is certainly not free, even if it is a company in which he has a full control.