Lanstan looked at Harvey's instantly stiff face, his expression indifferent and unhurried, as if he didn't understand the deep meaning hidden under Harvey's expression, just like when Harvey played Lance.

Harvey's brows furrowed slightly, and he looked carefully at the calm Lance in front of him, as if he had only really understood the person in front of him at this moment. The anger in his heart set off a storm, with his current status in Hollywood - even if not comparable to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and others, he is definitely one of the best, no one dares to play with him, but now Lance, a "nobody", is so bold. Harvey's love does get a little out of hand.

But the stuffiness in his chest soon came out in a long way, and all the anger was suppressed, and it quickly calmed down.

It is true that Harvey can now directly turn around and leave, give up the distribution rights of the "City of God", and even use his connections to make Lance suffer a little more at Sundance. However, this approach is really too short-sighted, and Harvey sees the big picture and the future.

"City of God" is a work that has received rave reviews at Sundance, and with its profound themes and deep reflections, it is indeed a rare masterpiece. Because it is a Portuguese-language production, it restricts its distribution in North America, but the disadvantages can also be converted into advantages, such as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film - as Lance said at the last meeting - which makes the "City of God" unique.

It was first released on Sundance, and was invested by the American production of zuò, and the cast is all from the local language, but the production of the zuò lineup is of American origin. This makes the "City of God" unique in the United States' propaganda advantage, and the college's public relations has a "home field advantage". If "City of God" can be released simultaneously in Brazil and the United States, and then the media reviews continue the momentum of Sundance, the year-end awards season is indeed worth looking forward to.

Xavi is a man of all kinds, and he will never make the mistake of being short-sighted. If necessary, bowing to the enemy can only be said to be a piece of cake. What's more, he and Lance are not enemies either.

Harvey nodded his chin and a smile reappeared on his lips, "Lance, you know, you are indeed a very arrogant man. The words full of mockery only made Lance tilt his head and acquiesce, and there was no more reaction than that, and Harvey didn't care, "So, do you really think that the 'City of God' can do well at the box office?" ”

Generally speaking, there are two ways to distribute rights, one is to buy out at a fixed price, and the other is to add royalties and box office dividends.

For art films, especially independent films that land at the Sundance Film Festival, buying out is a more cost-effective and straightforward deal, and there are no worries after selling the distribution rights, no need to worry about publicity, no need to worry about the box office, and no need to worry about losses.

The second approach means that the cost of the film must be recovered by box office dividends, and they will have to deal not only with the distribution company, but also with the theater chain. On top of that, the pressure at the box office will force them to do more publicity – one that is not proportional to the payout. So, it's a big gamble, a 99 percent big gamble that will fail miserably.

In the entire North American market, there are only six foreign-language films that have grossed more than $20 million, which shows the lack of appeal of non-English language films in this market. It also makes the way box office dividends are distributed look more like suicide. Lance knew this, and Xavi knew it all the more.

In the face of Harvey's questioning, Lance did not back down, "Before the movie is released, no one can jump to conclusions, can they? ”

This is the truth, Harvey has no way to refute, and has no intention of refutating, he chuckled twice, "One and a half million dollars in royalties, and then fifteen percent of the box office dividends, provided that the box office can exceed three million dollars." ”

Lance was immediately amused, "Harvey, you really have a good sense of humor. The 15 percent box office dividend is almost an insult to Lance's IQ, but Lance is not angry, but says seriously, "You should try harder." Trust me, you can do better. With that, Lance smiled and nodded, and then walked around Harvey and walked straight away.

This time, Xavi didn't stop Lance again.

Harvey knew that the offer he had just made was too low, but he wasn't going to raise it further – at least not yet. He's shown his bottom line to Lance, and then he can get Lance to negotiate with the others and see what Paramount Pictures is offering. Lance knows it, and he knows it too.

The battle for the distribution rights of the "City of God" has just begun.

Harvey had a kind smile on his face, and looked at Lance's back as if the elder was admiring the junior, and whispered softly, "Lancelot-Strello, be careful not to play with fire." ”

The clash with Xavi lasted only five minutes, but it was full of sparks and tense atmosphere. Lance knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew that he and Xavi were both businessmen, and the two were playing a game, and the first round was just a temptation, and everyone was trying to maximize their interests. Obviously, even in the end, Xavi is still driving down the price.

The copyright fee of 1.5 million, plus 15% of the box office dividends, is almost a joke. Lance knows this, and Xavi knows it.

Generally speaking, film revenue can be divided into two parts, box office revenue and peripheral income, the latter includes video tape rentals, peripheral products, theme parks and other titles, the former is the familiar movie box office.

After a film gains the box office, it will fall into the pockets of three parties: the theater side, the distributor, and the producer.

The theater side will formulate two ways to obtain dividends, one is to negotiate a guaranteed reserve price, for example, the work will be released on several screens for four weeks, pay 100,000 US dollars, which is fixed, the producer earns more and gets more, and loses if he earns less; However, in North America, the second way is used, dividing.

The structure of the sharing is very simple, and the current practice between the distributor and the theater side is that in the first three weeks, the distributor will take 90% of the box office, and the theater side will take 10%; Or choose to guarantee 70%.

To put it simply, let's say that a movie has a box office of $10,000, and you deduct $900 from your fixed expenses, then you get a figure of $9,100, which is the first option; The 70% guarantee is the second option, which is multiplied by 70% without deducting expenses, and the figure will be $7,000. The issuer will look at which of the two options is larger, and choose the higher number as the income.

From week four, the ratio is six to four, five to five in week six, four to six in week seven, and three to seven in week eight. In other words, the longer the broadcast time, the higher the proportion of the theater commission. This is also to encourage cinemas to show films for a longer period of time. Of course, this number is just a convention, and there will be some changes depending on the work, for example, the duration of the nine-to-one dividend of the large-scale zuò movie will be relatively long.

Among them, the so-called "fixed expenses", in fact, this number is not fixed, and will change according to the number of screens played in the theater and the size of the theater, which is why the first option and the second option will be high and low with each other.

After deducting the fluctuation of the figures, on the whole, the theater chain can take an average of 40% of the box office. The remaining 60 percent is split between the distributor and the producer, and under normal circumstances, the distributor's dividend ratio fluctuates between 15 and 20 percent, while the producer takes the remaining 40 to 45 percent.

Among them, the producer's dividend also needs to be divided into two parts, one to the production company itself, and one to the crew members including directors, actors, screenwriters, and producers. Normally, the production company leaves 15 to 20 percent, and the rest is obtained by the crew.

For example, if "City of God" gets $10 million at the North American box office, then the theater chain will take 4 million, the distributor will take 1.5 million, the producer will take 1.5 million, and the crew members will divide the remaining 3 million.

If it's a big studio, distribution and production at the same time, like Paramount Pictures, then they get three million dollars; If it is an independent art film, the producer and the crew members are not separated from each other, or the crew members are not eligible for dividends, such as "City of God", then Chaos Pictures can pocket 4.5 million.

Of course, these percentages are only approximate and may vary depending on the circumstances of each work. Especially for the part of the crew members, with a big name like Tom Cruise, the dividend ratio will naturally be higher, if you add a big director like Steven Spielberg, then the dividend of the crew alone may be as high as 40%, or even 50%, so that the income of the other three parties must naturally be adjusted accordingly.

It can be seen from here that the production company does not make money at all, because their dividends also need to deduct publicity expenses, production costs, etc., not only do not make money, but even have to post money. Therefore, people generally say that if a film wants to make money for the production company on the box office, the box office must be twice or even more than three times the cost of production. For example, "City of God", the cost is 3 million, and if it receives 7 million at the box office, then Chaos Pictures can get 3.15 million, which is basically the same after deducting and publicity expenses.

The part that makes the production company really makes money is the peripheral income, but this is a completely different system.

Just now, Harvey proposed a dividend of 1.5 million plus 15 percent to the "City of God", and in the case that Chaos Pictures can get at least 40% of the box office dividends, everyone knows that it is a loss-making business. In fact, it also hints at Harvey's attitude, he does not think that "City of God" can win the box office, and this film should be an award-winning work.

Lance must admit that Harvey's calculations were correct, because judging from the trajectory of the previous life, the box office of "City of God" was really not good. However, Lance has been planning since the filming of the movie, and it is not easy to create today's situation, maybe "City of God" cannot become another "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but it can at least hit the box office results of 10 million US dollars.

He does not take fate for granted.