Chapter 187 I Am the Issuer

During the reception, Chris looked at Li An, Xu Ligong and others who were still socializing, and said to Ronan: "Although I can't understand the lines and the subtitles seem to be difficult, I can roughly understand that this film is a bit simple- A taste of Austen's Sense and Sensibility."

The dialogue is in Chinese, with English subtitles, but Americans don't like to read subtitles when watching movies.

Ronan nodded: "It's really like an alternative "Sense and Sensibility"."

"It's a pity that Ann-Lee chose the wrong form of expression." Chris shook his head: "This kind of martial arts film is too strange."

He sighed: "Ann-Lee's selection of materials for the last few films is not very good."

Ronan agreed and said, "Yes."

Perhaps after a while, Sony Entertainment will have a different view on "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but Chris is the head of Sony Entertainment's audience at the Cannes Film Festival. Now Chris is not optimistic about this film, at least in Cannes Film Festival During the festive season, the possibility of Sony Entertainment entering the fray is not very high.

Last year, Ang Lee's film with a production budget of US$35 million had a North American box office of only US$630,000, which was a huge hit.

To a certain extent, Ang Lee's filming of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a last resort, because the disastrous failure of the previous film made it difficult for him to receive larger productions in Hollywood.

Speaking of which, Ang Lee is also a strong-willed person. His director career has hit the street several times. It would have been over for other Chinese directors, but he survived abruptly.

This alone far surpasses Wu Baige.

Ronan chatted with Chris for a few more words, and saw that Li An and Xu Ligong were surrounded by a lot less people, so he said to Chris, "I'm going to say hello to the master."

Chris didn't mean to go in the past: "You go, didn't we have an agreement before? I'll give you this film."

Ronan could see that Chris was really not interested in this film, so he took the opportunity to return the half-joking favor.

None of these old fritters who have been in Hollywood are easy.

In the chat just now, Ronan also tentatively asked that Sony Classics invested very little in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", because Sony Classics is not too optimistic about a martial arts film with such a high investment.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had a budget of $17 million.

Converting the exchange rate of this era, it is more than 130 million soft sister coins. Which martial arts film dares to invest so much money today?

Ang Lee said that shooting "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a bit exaggerated, but it can also reflect the real situation of this project.

Ronan has always made decisions before acting. He has already mastered a lot of information these days. Ang Lee cooperated with Sony Columbia Pictures in "Sense and the Situation" in 1995, but he did not cooperate with Sony again. The main producer of each film Each side is different.

Therefore, Ang Lee should have no preference for which company to cooperate with.

As for Xu Ligong, Western film circles don't know much about him. He is one of the most famous filmmakers in Wanwan. He is mainly active in Wanwan and doesn't have much contact with Hollywood.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Xu Ligong is the first producer, and Li Ang is the director and producer.

The power of this film is actually in the hands of these two people.

"Hello, Director Li. Hello, Mr. Xu." Ronan came in front of the two, shook hands with them one by one, and introduced himself: "I am Ronan Anderson, the president of Embassy Pictures."

"Embassy Pictures?" Xu Ligong felt strange.

Ang Lee has been in Hollywood all year round, and immediately asked: "The Embassy Pictures that released "The Blair Witch" and "Death Comes"?"

Ronan smiled slightly: "Exactly."

"Hello, Mr. Anderson." Ang Li smiled instantly, "It's an honor to meet you."

When Xu Ligong heard that he was from the Hollywood distribution company, he also came over to say hello: "It is a great honor for Mr. Anderson to come to the reception."

Ang Lee added: "Embassy Pictures' performance last year was impressive."

Seeing that the two men were polite and flattering, Ronan suddenly realized something, something he hadn't completely changed yet.

Embassy Pictures is a distribution company, and he is representing a distribution company now, and it is a distribution company with a very good performance last year!

In a single round of performance, Embassy Pictures even outperformed companies such as Lionsgate, Miramax, and New Line Pictures last year!

Ang Lee and Xu Ligong are producers, and they still want to find a producer for North American distribution.

More importantly, Ang Lee is not a great director in the future, the last film only experienced a fiasco!

There is also "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". He knows that this film will be a huge success, but others don't know that martial arts films are a niche genre among the niche in North America. Looking at Chris's attitude, it is not difficult to guess Hollywood Most people are not interested in this film.

The value of such a film is slowly revealed, but now "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is only premiering in Cannes, and the official release will not be until July.

The importance of distribution to a film is self-evident.

As a distributor, it naturally has an advantage when facing a producer. Judging from the current situation, it seems that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has not attracted enough attention from Hollywood distribution companies.

Ronan and Chris had observed before that there were not many people from Hollywood at the reception. Film viewing experts like Chris, who had been in Hollywood for many years, were very familiar with people, and most of the film viewing staff and buyers from other companies knew each other.

Even the fat guy Harvey Weinstein who went to see the premiere didn't seem to come.

It is estimated that Harvey Weinstein is not familiar with martial arts films either.

Perhaps because of the great success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Miramax later bought the North American copyright of "Hero".

Ronan was also not modest, saying: "Embassy Pictures is developing rapidly, and the distribution channels in North America are also improving day by day. If "The Blair Witch" is released now." He seemed very confident: "The box office in North America may be even higher."

Ang Lee has long been Westernized, and said: "The announcement of "The Blair Witch" is amazing."

Although Xu Ligong has less dealings with Hollywood, he has also heard of the name of "The Blair Witch". It is not easy to think about a distribution company that can manage that kind of super bad movie to sell hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

Ronan didn't talk nonsense, and expressed his intentions: "You two, I just watched the premiere. May I ask if the North American distribution rights are still in your hands?"

The moment Ronan revealed his identity, Li An and Xu Ligong guessed his intention, and Xu Ligong answered, "The North American copyright is still in the hands of Zongheng International."

"I'm a little curious about this film." Ronan said directly: "If you two are interested, we can make an appointment to talk about the North American release."

Li An winked at Xu Ligong.

Xu Ligong pointed to the people around him and said, "It's not suitable now, we can't leave."

Of course, Ronan would not be very eager. He took out his business cards, handed them to Li An and Xu Ligong respectively, and said, "It has my contact information on it. When you two have time, you can call me."

Li An and Xu Ligong solemnly put away their business cards. The latter thought for a while and said, "If Mr. Anderson has time tomorrow, can we arrange a place to talk?"

"Yes." Ronan said, "There is a coffee shop on the first floor of this hotel."

Xu Ligong said again: "Ten o'clock tomorrow morning?"

Ronan nodded: "Yes."

After shaking hands with the two again, Ronan bid farewell and left, finding Chris who was hanging out at the reception.

"How did it go?" Chris asked.

Ronan half-truthfully said: "Generally speaking, the asking price is not very suitable. I will talk to them tomorrow. If it doesn't work, I have to give up."

Chris smiled and said, "The risk in the film industry is too high. It's best not to touch films you don't understand."

Ronan nodded and said, "I know, just try it, if it doesn't work, withdraw."

Suddenly, Chris reminded: "I guess you have a competitor."

"Who?" Ronan was surprised.

Chris stretched out his hand and pointed quietly: "That fat man from Miramax is here."

Ronan followed his fingers and frowned slightly. Harvey Weinstein had already approached Li An and Xu Ligong, and he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Didn't he not come?" Ronan had never seen this guy before.

Chris said: "When you went to find Ann-Lee, that guy came."

Ronan laughed, "He's taken a fancy to this film? If he invests a lot of money, he will lose money."

"Who knows." Chris said simply: "He often comes to Cannes to buy movies, and when he buys movies, he likes to buy two or three movies at once. As long as one is successful, it will be profitable."

Ronan answered, "This is also a business strategy."

Chris agrees: "It's very effective. The Weinstein Brothers are masters in operating independent films. They have mastered the essence of this aspect. They diversify their investments, reduce risks, and bet on successful projects."

In fact, small-scale companies in Hollywood will use this kind of operation strategy more or less.

While talking to Chris, Ronan recalled and thought about it. In his previous life, Ang Lee didn't seem to have worked with Harvey Weinstein, right?

He glanced at Li An and Xu Ligong, both of them had polite smiles on their faces, not knowing what they were talking to Harvey Weinstein.

Will this be a competitor?

Having said that, even if Miramax wants to get involved, he is not too worried. Embassy Pictures has a complete distribution channel, and when it comes to distribution capabilities, it is no worse than Miramax.

More importantly, the cash flow of Embassy Pictures is simply not comparable to Miramax, a film company that has sharp conflicts with its parent company.

After the reception was over, before Ronan left, he went to the host to bid farewell politely. By the way, he tried a bit, but he didn't get any results.

The two reminded him of tomorrow's interview, and Ronan could guess that they hadn't reached a deal with Harvey Weinstein.

The next day, Ronan arrived at the appointed place on time and met Li An and Xu Ligong.

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