Regarding the new movie, Lee Shengyao actually began to think about it after deciding to shoot "Border Killer".

In the past year, the box office reputation and awards of "Border Killer" have made him more sure of his ideas.

He shouldn't just make movies that make money, he wants to make movies that can make money, have a good reputation, and preferably win awards.

It is necessary to leave a name in the history of cinema, so as to live up to the time.

And such a movie is undoubtedly an absolute boutique, not only with commercial value, but also with high artistry, which is very difficult to find.

Li Shengyao thought about it for a long time, and finally planned to determine the new movie as the Chinese version of "1917" - "1937".

In Lee Shengyao's previous life, "1917" was a war movie released in 2020.

The film tells the story of World War I, where two British soldiers saved 1,600 soldiers by overcoming obstacles and delivering vital information to friendly forces on the other end.

Due to the special time of release of this movie, and the fact that there is almost no publicity for this movie in the mainland, the box office in the mainland is average.

However, "1917" has a very good global box office, getting 384 million US dollars.

There are many stories of ordinary soldiers crossing the battlefield to deliver intelligence, and Li Shengyao doesn't need to worry about making this movie, someone will jump out and say plagiarism.

In fact, he would arrange for someone to search for the deeds of the Battle of Songhu in 1937, and he believed that he could find some brave predecessor who had crossed the battlefield and delivered important information to friendly troops.

He made this type of movie in advance, and when Hollywood filmed "1917" in the future, he would also accuse Hollywood of plagiarizing his story.

Such stories are full of positive energy, and it is easy to pass the trial.

And this film belongs to war movies.

Mainland audiences actually like to watch war movies, "Assembly Number", "Eight Hundred", and "Changjin Lake" are all war films.

"1917" is average at the box office in the mainland, except for the special time, there is almost no publicity, the main reason is that it is difficult for mainland audiences to empathize, this is to tell the story of British soldiers.

If the story is set in the Battle of Songhu, the protagonists are Chinese.

Lee believes that movies will definitely attract a lot of audiences.

And the reason why Li Shengyao chose the sinicization of "1917" is not only because of the good box office of this movie, but also because this movie has created a new record in film history.

This new record is a pseudo-one-shot shot.

After watching the whole movie of "1917", there seems to be no lens editing, only a long shot, like two soldiers running all day, and the camera follows the shooting all day.

This is the first time in the history of cinema that a feature-length film has done this, and it is for this reason that "1917" has won many awards.

The heavyweight awards include the following year's Golden Globe Award for Best Director, Best Feature Film, and ten Oscar nominations, as well as three awards for cinematography, soundtrack, and visual effects.

In addition, in the British "Oscar", the Academy Film Awards, it received nine nominations and won seven of them, becoming the most awarded film at the 2021 British Academy Film Awards.

The whole movie is just a long shot, and this gimmick is attractive enough.

Such an attempt is easy to attract the appreciation of filmmakers who are engaged in artistic creation.

"1917" is naturally not really just one shot, but compared to ordinary films, this film does have relatively few editing, a total of 22 editing points, the longest one is eight minutes, and the other shots are at least three minutes.

Eight minutes of long footage is long enough, and a normal person can walk two miles in eight minutes.

Because there is little editing, all of them are long shots, which requires the actors to act in a large number of scenes smoothly.

It is a huge test for the cinematographer, prop master, actor, and director.

Li Shengyao chose the sinicization of "1917", and the production was successful, it can indeed win a huge honor, not to mention the Oscars, such as the Las Palmas International Film Festival will inevitably be very welcome.

But if it fails, drawing a tiger will not become an anti-dog, and it is likely to become a laughing stock in the film and television industry.

So choosing this movie, there are both opportunities and dangers.

Li Shengyao did not hesitate, he wrote the script, and then handed it over to the radio and television to apply for a filming permit.

……

At 10 o'clock in the morning on this day, Li Shengyao was writing the plan for "1937" at home.

Radio and television are still under review, and there should be a reply within three or four days.

Lee Shengyao plans to write a plan first.

That's when he picked up Toby. Emmerich's call, the Warner executive came to Yanjing again.

In fact, this situation will soon become more and more common.

With the development of the Chinese film market, more and more senior executives of Hollywood film companies will come to the mainland in the future.

Soon after, Lee met Toby. Emmerich, as well as his secretary, a blonde with a hot body.

Toby looked very formal in a suit trousers with black leather shoes.

"Lee, congratulations, Border Killer is a success in the beautiful country, as well as in Europe."

"Border Killer" was first released in mainland Southeast Asia, and then released in Europe and the United States in mid-April.

The male and female protagonists of this movie have almost no appeal in Europe and the United States, which is a very good result.

Li Shengyao can earn tens of millions of dollars again.

He smiled, "It's okay, as long as you don't lose money." ”

He then poured Toby and the blonde secretary a cup of coffee each.

"Man, what are you doing in Yanjing?"

"Li, I need some help from you, Warner has some good movies this year, we believe that these movies can achieve results in the Chinese market, I want to ask you to help us promote more."

"It's a trifle."

Warner executives can be said to be ambitious this year, and they will launch movies such as "Life as I Know", "Cowboy is Bad", "Cats and Dogs 2", "Jade City 2", "Inception" and so on.

These films are not restricted films, they can be released in the mainland, and they hope to get a piece of the pie in the mainland.

Li Shengyao has a water army, a beautiful video, and a theater, which is just right for publicity.

When Toby heard this, he clapped his hands happily, "Li, our cooperation is very good, other people complained about me before, thinking that I shouldn't be too close to you, but now everyone has seen that the Chinese market is good enough, and Hollywood can't leave out this place." ”

Toby still thinks of Lee Shengyao's words before, and still feels amazing.

Before the filming of "Hurricane Rescue 23" began, Li Shengyao said that the Chinese market would grow rapidly, and although Toby believed this at the time, he did not expect it to be so soon.

With the growth rate of the Chinese film market this year, at the latest one or two years, the Chinese film market will be able to surpass the island country and become the second largest film market in the world.

Li Shengyao smiled, "There will be more surprising results in the future." ”

Toby chimed in, and he went on to say something about Hollywood.

For example, Michael Jackson's documentary made a lot of money last year, and many film companies are eyeing it again this year, wanting to make dead money.

There is also the fact that Nolan's new film "Inception" has been produced, and the reception of the theater executives has received a very good response.

In addition, Paramount has already shaken hands with Tom, and they will work together on "Mission Impossible 4".

Li Shengyao chatted with Toby, and he felt that Toby had other things to do besides asking Fenghua to help with the promotion.

Twenty minutes later, Toby said his other purpose.

"Lee, about The Hangover, do you want to develop a sequel?"

"I have this idea, but I'm not ready yet, let's see when I'm more idle."

The first part of "The Hangover" has a global box office of more than 400 million US dollars, and it is really intolerable if such a movie does not make a sequel.

Li Shengyao has already written the scripts for the two movies "The Hangover 23".

But he hadn't taken it out before.

He didn't want to go to the beautiful country to shoot the sequel, and he was worried that the Hollywood company would ask for more shares, so he didn't take it out.

Now that he relies on the mainland market, he has enough confidence to talk to Hollywood companies, and it is naturally time to shoot a sequel.

However, Toby's attitude is obviously to want Lee Shengyao to cooperate with Warner.

He can't show his bottom line, he should be the one who controls emotions.

Toby didn't doubt Lee Shengyao's words, "Lee, if you want to start "The Hangover 2", you can cooperate with Warner, we already have a foundation for cooperation, and the next cooperation will be smoother, this is a friendship that other companies don't have." ”

Li Shengyao smiled, took a sip of tea, "I'll think about it." ”

"Li, we can still maintain the previous cooperation model, it is still seventy-three, you account for seventy percent, Warner accounts for thirty percent, we will solve the matter in the beautiful country, you just need to sit and count the money."

Warner's resources in Hollywood should be second only to Disney, which is very good.

Lee Shengyao belongs to Warner, but he doesn't plan to say it now.

What is easy to obtain cannot be precious, and he plans to talk about it in a few days.

"Toby, I'll get back to you in a week at the latest."

Toby breathed a sigh of relief, he picked up his coffee cup and drank it down, at which point he was much more relaxed.

"Li, Brother Tom knows that I came to Yanjing, let me pass on a few words to you."

''You say. ”

"Tom and Paramount have reached a cooperation agreement, "Mission Impossible 4" is about to be produced, Tom watched "Border Killer", he said it is very cool, the movie is very interesting, and he looks forward to cooperating with you."

Toby's words fell, and his expression was a little complicated, "He hopes that you can seriously consider it and create a blockbuster of six or seven billion dollars together." ”

The "Mission Impossible" project, everyone who has watched it is in their hearts, even if "Mission Impossible 3" lost a little money back then, this series still has a very high value.

Warner didn't have such a series of films.

If anything, Toby wants to invite Lee Shengyao to direct in the beautiful country.

After all, such a movie can indeed hit the global box office of six or seven billion US dollars.

No matter what the director is, he should not refuse such box office results.

Toby continued: "Tom also said that he will cherish the opportunity to work with you, whether it is filming or editing, he will seriously consider your opinion."

Brother Tom's movie, unless the director is Spielberg, he can't hold him down, how to shoot and edit, it's all up to Tom.

He was very confident and conceited, and he said that he was willing to seriously consider Lee Shengyao's opinions and ideas, which was already a relatively moderate attitude.

However, Li Shengyao naturally didn't believe it, he knew very well that a proud son like Tom Tom had too good previous results, so that he had formed a set of success concepts, and it was impossible to accommodate others.

Besides, even if Tom is willing to give up the editing right and is willing to obey Director Li's command.

Lee Shengyao will not go to the ocean to make a popcorn movie.

It's really boring.

Now he wants to make interesting movies and become a marionette, which is not what he wants.

"Toby, if you meet Tom, just tell him that it's a pity, I can't work with him, I have confirmed the new movie here, and I won't leave the mainland."

Hearing this, Toby nodded gloatingly, "Li, I will convey your meaning completely." ”

Li Shengyao smiled, and then went on to talk about some things in Hollywood and the mainland film industry.

Regarding the production of the sequel to "The Hangover", he basically meant to work with Warner.

I'll get back to Toby in a few days.

When the time comes, some people will be arranged to go to the beautiful country to form a crew, and he will prepare "1937" wholeheartedly.

In order for this film to achieve the effect of pseudo-one-shot to the end, it takes a lot of preparation and hard work, and before the filming of "1917" started, the actors rehearsed and walked for six months.

Li Shengyao's side is also demanding.

(End of chapter)