First he asked Wattsbogo:

"Source Code" is not a clumsy imitation of Dong Shi's imitation, you have also seen the quality of the finished film, it is not inferior to Hollywood's top films, creativity and plot have their innovation, the element of time loop is not the first, but it is absolutely fresh, the market wants fresh themes, the box office prospects of "Source Code" will not be bad, in addition, there is a disc market in North America, which is a more profitable market than the box office, and your price is still low."

After hearing this, Watts nodded and said: "You are very right, but I still suggest that you sell the adaptation rights in North America, if you change the actors in this film, the box office in North America will not be less than 50 million, and it may still break 100 million." ”

Lu Ping'an also agrees with this number, the original "Source Code" was released in 2011, and the concept of time loop was not new at that time, but that's it, under the premise of low scheduling, it still won dazzling results.

If you put the time at this time, under the premise of the same film scheduling, the results of "Source Code" are estimated to be better.

After thinking about it, Watzberg quoted: "Lu, I will pay 2 million US dollars for the adaptation rights, if you are willing to cooperate with the copyright of "Chainsaw", we can make the North American version of "Source Code" together." ”

"I'll think about it."

Don't think about it, the copyright of "Chainsaw" will not be taken out, and if you want to co-produce, you don't need to take out this.

Lu Ping'an asked again, "What about the distribution rights?" ”

"1.5 million, it can't be more, Chinese sci-fi films are too risky in North America, and this price has exceeded my bottom line."

"Then let's talk to someone else first."

"No problem."

After chatting with Watts, Lu Ping'an chatted with another North American company, and their meaning was similar to Watts, but the quotation was hundreds of thousands lower than Watts's.

Lu Ping'an didn't make a decision for the time being, and then chatted with filmmakers in other regions.

After chatting for a while, there is still no major progress.

However, the producers are already satisfied.

Although the adaptation rights can't be earned, the distribution rights are also 4 million US dollars! It's a big deal!

But Lu Ping'an is still unhappy.

At this price, the global box office of "Source Code" is expected to be less than 30 million US dollars except for the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which is so much worse than the original film!

Even if it will indeed be discounted because of the starring reasons of the yellow race, he still feels that it is unlikely that there will be such a big gap.

After thinking about it, Lu Ping'an asked Hu Qingquan: "If it is released in a split account, how is the box office split in these regions calculated?" ”

Hu Qingquan quickly replied: "Europe, South Korea, Neon these places are similar to China, the proportion of account sharing will be slightly higher than that of the mainland, North America is different, there are many ways to share accounts, according to the stepped account sharing, the first two weeks can reach about 70%, after deducting the normal publicity and distribution costs, in addition to North America, as a filmmaker, we can get 20% of the box office account, North America is higher, and the first two weeks can reach 40%." ”

After saying that, he asked, "Do you want to try to split the account?" ”

Lu Ping'an did have this idea, and he had it for a long time.

Now that the offers of the filmmakers are not to his liking, he has even more thoughts of trying this way.

Take, for example, South Korea.

The $400,000 buyout of the distribution rights is calculated at a minimum of 20% according to the box office share ratio of South Korea, and theoretically the South Korean distributor can make a profit as long as the film exceeds $2 million.

With the quality of "Source Code" and the signboard of Guorong, will it be too much to take $2 million in South Korea?

Lu Ping'an felt that it was not too much at all!

Similarly, the North American distribution rights of 1.5 million US dollars, according to the first two weeks up to 70% of the producers' accounts, as long as the box office exceeds 2.5 million US dollars, theoretically profitable, the distribution rights here even include the video market, so the profit will be even greater at that time!

"Source Code" is a Chinese-language science fiction film, which has no precedent in North America, and may not be adaptable.

But what if it's possible?

His Chinese version of "The Tuner" was released in Lao Meizhi for three weeks, and with a total of more than 100 screens, it was able to win more than one million US dollars at the box office, "Source Code" is not worse than it, right?

Lu Ping'an thought about it and said to Hu Qingquan: "The distribution right offer of 4 million is equivalent to less than 30 million US dollars at the global box office except for the mainland, and my "Tuner" is higher than this, I don't believe they can't see it!" My thinking is that since they don't want to add more money for various reasons, let's just talk about splitting the bill! ”

Hu Qingquan worried: "Wouldn't it be too risky?" ”

The account-sharing model will also give rise to many problems, such as a series of problems such as account fraud, box office swallowing, and long payment collection cycle.

This is also the reason why many producers are discouraged from choosing the selling point distribution rights.

This is something that even Hollywood can't completely avoid, they have global distribution channels, but many times they still choose to sell out in certain regions.

Lu Ping'an said confidently: "They may not be able to divide the account, let's talk like this, maybe we can also raise the outright price, when the time comes, let's calculate according to the quotation, where you can take risks, which places to choose to be conservative, let's divide it, and combine the issuance and sale with the account split." ”

Hu Qingquan, Han Sanpin, and the rest of the producers looked at each other, and then Han Sanpin smiled and said, "Anyway, it's a negotiation, so let's talk about it." ”

Soon the next round of negotiations began.

Lu Ping'an's attitude is that the outright price is generally appropriate, then sell, if you still don't want to raise the price, then directly negotiate the account, and bet on it!

According to this kind of negotiation, unless they continue to raise the price of the issuance right, so that Lu Ping'an feels that it is more cost-effective not to divide the account, then directly agree, anyway, it will not be a loss.

In this regard, after several rounds of negotiations, the pre-copyright deal for "Source Code" was finally finalized.

The copyright price of the mainland video disc is 1.5 million yuan.

The rest, who are not willing to gamble, choose to split the account because they can pay less upfront.

Seven countries and regions, including South Korea, North America, Spain, Neon, and Germany, have chosen to issue in separate accounts.

If you are willing to gamble, you choose to raise the cost of issuing a buyout, and pay more upfront, but if you have good results, you can also make more money.

A total of 41 countries and regions have sold out their distribution rights.

Among them, the outright sale price totaled 3.3 million US dollars, which was a little higher than before, and the strategy of using split issuance as a bargaining chip is still useful.

It's just that Hu Qingquan still expressed regret: "If there are big film dealers, this price can be at least 30% higher." ”

All walks of life have their own rules of the game, just like foreign films coming to the mainland can't avoid China Film.

The big dealers have more channels, and the following ones have to buy from him, and the bids will naturally be higher.

But even so, Lu Ping'an is already very satisfied, because he still likes to share the account.

In the account-sharing issuance model, VAM issuance is implemented according to different regions.

In addition to North America, countries such as South Korea are based on the offer of buying out the right to issue as a publicity fee, the implementation of separate issuance, the issuance process will be supervised by two third-party institutions, all kinds of default clauses are very sound, involving a series of problems such as box office, fake accounts, etc., liquidated damages will be very high.

For example, the buyout price of South Korea's issuance is only 400,000 yuan, and it is not willing to go any higher.

Lu Ping'an is not uncommon to earn your money, 400,000 yuan will be exchanged for publicity and distribution expenses, and then we will see how much box office I can do.

After calculation, if the box office account wants to return 400,000 US dollars, the number of moviegoers must be about 300,000 people, which is only a return to the cost, and if you want to earn back 400,000 US dollars, you have to double.

According to common sense, this is more risky, but if the $400,000 is smashed, there will be a lot more film scheduling and theater coverage.

More than 1 million people, you can really look at it.

"Heroes" has 1.9 million people!

Source Code isn't too bad for him, is it?

In fact, for this kind of betting, filmmakers are actually willing to pay more.

If you buy out 400,000 US dollars and make a bet, you can pay 600,000 US dollars, after all, the publicity and distribution costs can still be subcontracted, and there are imaginary numbers, the key is that you don't have to pay at once, which is very beneficial to buy the distribution rights of "Heroes" in the future.

The same pattern is the same in North America, but with the addition of a variation clause on the quotation of adaptation rights.

If the box office is less than 10 million, the adaptation right will be sold to the summit at a price of 2 million, and the box office will be between 10 million and 30 million, 30 million and 50 million, and the adaptation right price will be 1 million and 500,000 respectively, and the box office will be more than 50 million, and the adaptation right will be automatically waived.

The box office is so high, and the peak adaptation is meaningless, after all, the adaptation has to add production fees, and repeated releases will affect the box office, so the adaptation is not interesting.

In addition, the distribution rights of the North American disc market were also bought out by the peak, and they were also graded according to the theatrical box office, with 500,000 within 5 million box office, 3 million within 30 million box office, and 5 million above 30 million box office.

This piece is not easy to divide, Lu Ping'an can't talk about it, so he simply let it go.

North American distributions, like the rest of the region, will also be subject to three-party regulation.

In this way, if "Source Code" has a box office of 10 million in the first week in North America, Lu Ping'an can get at least $4 million at the box office.

Is it hard to do it with $10 million?

Watzberg thought it was unlikely, and he thought 5 million was the sky, which is why he gave the $1.5 million option buyout price.

But Lu Ping'an thinks that everything is possible!

Of course, for Hollywood's urine, even if Watts is a friend, Lu Ping'an is not at ease.

So in addition to taking out the three-party supervision, he also has an offer in his hand, whether he does well or badly, it is actually worth his offer, of course, before that, he has to talk to other Hollywood bosses.

。。。。。。。。

The account-sharing plan was finalized, and in this way, the copyright negotiation of "Source Code" was basically completed.

The distribution rights and copyrights total 3.3 million US dollars + 1.5 million RMB disc copyrights, which can be obtained directly.

Of course, it can be even higher according to the full sellout, and the issuance rights alone can be close to 6 million US dollars.

The loss of two or three million in vain, and there may be more, also makes the producers have some opinions.

Huayi King always said: "Don't talk about science fiction films, even Chinese-language signature kung fu movies are not easy to sell in North America, Ping An, you are still more radical this time." ”

Eagle Emperor Huo Wenxi also said something similar: "Hollywood is actually not so accommodating." ”

Xingmei said: "If the account is divided, the return of funds is not so fast, and Hollywood is more complicated, and we can't afford to wait." ”

Everyone thinks that Lu Ping'an is so confident, and he has some intention of entering Hollywood.

One by one, as "people who have come over", they have expressed their disbelief.

But Lu Ping'an has made up his mind.

Everyone continues to persuade.

Lu Ping'an simply said directly: "Don't force you, I can come by myself, and the issuance rights of the sub-account area will be converted into a number, and I will supply you!" ”

These places that are engaged in account sharing are all large ticket warehouses, and they want to buy the issuance rights for only two or three million US dollars, and they still don't agree to increase the price, so Lu Ping'an will naturally not cheapen them so easily.

Compared to these big ticket positions, he naturally wants to gamble.

He can afford to gamble, too.

He doesn't regret losing the bet!

He has made a lot of money so far on the film "Source Code".

Even if the distributors make up the issuance fee, it won't cost much, at most more than one million dollars, which can be deducted from the existing 3 million miles, and he will take 1.5 million from 3 million, and he won't have to spend a penny if he deducts it, but he will make less money in the early stage.

At that time, if the box office exceeds expectations, he can get a 100% profit share.

It's impressive.

So he was resolute.

And the producers carefully made a cost-effective calculation, and finally made a decision.

In the end, except for the middle shadow and light, all the rest chose to be discounted

Xingmei and a few other premium purchases are very real, saying that there are not many funds in hand now, and the cycle is too long.

Huayi and Eagle Emperor have similar reasons: they have suffered losses in Hollywood, and Chinese science fiction is not optimistic about Hollywood, so they choose to discount.

In addition, there is another reason, that is, if the North American account sharing is not successful, Lu Ping'an still has millions of adaptation rights, and they don't have their share of the money, so there is no need to play with it.

Of course, this does not affect the existing cooperation, both the exchange of resources agreed at the time of signing the contract before, and the various cooperation after the release of the film.

Lu Ping'an directly agreed, so he recovered 35% of the share in these account-sharing areas and gave them $1.05 million.

So of the issuance fee of 3.3 million, he accounted for half of the 1.15 million, and this time there was only 100,000 left, and the share of the account was back to 85%.

It seems that it is actually a loss, after all, if you don't divide the share at the beginning, there will be 100%, and you can transfer millions of distribution royalties?

But Lu Ping'an was very satisfied in his heart, because the account could not be calculated like this, and the resources exchanged before could be more than this price.

Now that they are withdrawing, it is actually the best solution for Lu Ping'an.

In exchange for resources, the future account sharing can make the most money, and it will not affect the continuation of cooperation in the future.

Of course, the premise is that you can make money by sharing accounts.

At this point, Lu Ping'an is still confident.

After all, the original results of "Source Code" are there, and this kind of film is common to both Chinese and Western, no matter what, he doesn't believe that it can't hit the overseas box office at all!

The account-sharing contract was completely finalized, and because it was a gamble and the starting point of the bet was very low, both the South Korean filmmakers and Watzberg were a little happy and felt that they had picked up a great bargain.

After the contract was finalized, South Korea and several other countries ran away directly, and Watzberg was slightly better, and he also gave Lu Ping'an a sentence: "Lu, buy and leave, this is what you said." ”

Lu Ping'an smiled and agreed, and Watzberg ran away.

At the same time, the progress of the pre-copyright transaction on the side of "Hero".

"Hero" sold the distribution rights in Europe and the United States to Miramax Company for a high price of $20 million, and the distribution rights in South Korea were jointly purchased by three companies, including Zhongbo Film and Television Company, for $2 million, and it is expected to be released in South Korea in January next year.

The distribution rights of the rest of the places have not been calculated, in short, the cost of 30 million US dollars can be recovered before it is released.

The news was released, and the media went on a carnival.

""Hero" sky-high copyright deal, a real blockbuster!"

"This year's global copyright transaction record: domestic film "Hero""

"From "Red Sorghum" to "Hero", Zhang Yimou's 15 years"

"Heroes..."

The world is almost entirely touting "Heroes".

As for the "source code" copyright transaction of 3 million dollars?

Is this a big deal?

Or even say that this is also a blockbuster?

One has a copyright fee of more than 30 million, and the other has a copyright fee of 3 million, and as a result, both of them are known as "blockbusters".

Who is the clown, at a glance.

After all, in the eyes of some people, foreigners' eyes are rulers...