Chapter 121: Gathering Funds and Taking Action
After returning from China Film Group, Liu Zhou was in a good mood.

With the full support of China Film, Liu Zhou's "The Blade of Embroidery" has achieved half of its success.

Although the financial support they can provide is not much, the cooperation between Liu Zhou and China Film has never been based on how much money they can invest, but on other aspects of support.

Back in the studio, Liu Zhou also prepared to calculate how much money he would need this time.

The first piece is the copyright of "The Piano Tuner" sold at the Sundance Film Festival, for a total of 35 million.

Then the film took in about 61 million yuan at the mainland box office, and after deducting various commissions, the production company was able to get 31%.

This is also a reflection of Liu Zhou's rising status. He only got more than 20% of the profits from the first two films.

Thirty-one percent is about 19 million. Since "The Tuner" is solely funded by Liu Zhou, this money also belongs entirely to Liu Zhou's studio.

Then came the box office in Hong Kong. This time, "The Piano Tuner" did not perform well in Hong Kong. Although it had good reputation, it only grossed more than 11 million Hong Kong dollars.

The distribution of Hong Kong this time did not go through China Film. Liu Zhou directly negotiated the cooperation with Yindu Film Group, and the distribution fee was still 12%.

Therefore, Liu Zhou could get 38% of the share, which is 4.2 million.

Finally, as for Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, Liu Zhou directly bought out the copyrights this time.

However, due to the lack of popular stars, the selling price this time was slightly cheaper, totaling only 1.8 million US dollars.

This is still out of Liu Zhou's face. After all, the success of his two consecutive films has also given him a certain status in the hearts of these film producers.

But what surprised Liu Zhou was that after "The Piano Tuner" was released overseas, someone from Bollywood actually came to buy the adaptation rights of the film.

Since only the adaptation rights for Asia were left, the price was not high, only $400,000.

This part adds up to US$2.2 million, or about RMB 18 million.

In total, Liu Zhou earned 76 million through "The Tuner".

It can be said that a lot of blood was recovered!

After deducting 25% tax, there is still 57 million left, which is net profit.

Liu Zhou withdrew more than 10 million yuan from "Mengya" magazine some time ago. After paying for maintaining the company's operations and purchasing the copyright of the novel, as well as paying more than 2 million yuan in bonuses to Qin Hao and others, he still had 12 million yuan left.

So now Liu Zhou has a total of 69 million funds at his disposal.

However, funds still need to be set aside for the production of "Snow Goddess Dragon". During this period, Zhong Lifang has already worked out the budget.

According to the director's idea, the female lead was going to invite the former Wanwan No. 1 beauty Xiao Qiang, but she didn't have the schedule or looked down on such a small crew, so she refused.

Liu Zhou later recommended Zhang Tong, but she was busy rehearsing "Youth" and also rejected it.

After many twists and turns, the role of the heroine Shangguan Feiyan finally went to newcomer Dong Xuan.

This is the candidate selected by Zhong Lifang and the director after an audition.

Zhong Lifang did not suffer any loss and signed Dong Xuan directly.

Dong Xuan, who was only a junior in college, was hit by such a big pie, so of course he hurriedly signed a ten-year agency contract with Zhou Shan Studio.

Then, Liu Zhou chose Qiao Zhengyu for the role of Ouyang Mingyue. Without him, the drama would lack soul.

The male lead finally chosen was Chen Minghao, Zeng Li's classmate. When he was young, he also had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and looked a bit rough. I just don't know if his acting skills will be overshadowed by the second male lead played by Qiao Zhengyu.

However, Chen Minghao is the kind of actor who becomes more attractive as he gets older. When he was young, he was not handsome enough, so it was difficult for him to stand out and get the leading role.

Liu Zhou felt that he was quite suitable for the role of Sima Changfeng, so he gave him a hand. How his career would develop afterwards depended on him.

So the cast of this TV series is the same as in history, with few stars, the only one being Eric Suen, who was quite popular at that time.

This also led to the fact that the investment in this TV series was not large. Eight million was enough, and it also included the cost of special effects production.

But the special effects for TV dramas are actually not as expensive as you might think.

After deducting the eight million, there are still sixty-one million left. Liu Zhou takes out one million to maintain the operation of the company, so he can invest a maximum of sixty million in "Xiu Chun Dao".

However, Liu Zhou felt that it would not cost that much, plus there was the five million invested by China Film.

During this period, Liu Zhou plans to gather all the actors first.

Before Liu Zhou took any action, the news that he was going to shoot a new movie had already spread in the circle, and even the fact that he was going to shoot a costume martial arts film this time was revealed.

All of a sudden, the industry took action.

What Liu Zhou didn't expect was that the first person to contact him was Wang Zhongjun.

Liu Zhou naturally knew the purpose of his call. It seemed that he really felt that he and they had forgotten their grudges last time.

Although he knew that the other party also wished that he would go bankrupt, he couldn't refuse bluntly since the other party welcomed him with a smile.

Liu Zhou directly told him that his new film "The Swordsman" had a total investment of 70 million yuan, and China Film invested 5 million yuan.

After hearing this, Wang Zhongjun immediately laughed and gave Liu Zhou a lot of flattery. Finally, he generously said that any actor from Huayi could be chosen.

He must be crazy to be involved in such a high-budget movie!

China Film, which has always been on good terms with Liu Zhou, only invested a small amount this time, which must be a sign of pessimism. Wang Zhongjun felt that Liu Zhou was trying to trick him, and he would not fall for it.

It seems that Liu Zhou has not forgotten the previous grudges. We have to be careful with this person in the future. He is also the type of person who puts up a smiling face.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Zhou couldn't help but sneer.

Before "Hero" came out, who knew that big productions could make so much money?

At that time in mainland China, a cast of 10 or 20 million was considered a big cast, but Zhang Yimou made everyone understand what a blockbuster movie is.

So Liu Zhou knew that Wang Zhongjun would definitely back off after seeing the investment of tens of millions, and in the end it turned out to be just as he expected.

As for using Huayi's actors, he would invite them himself, and he could do so through Wang Zhongjun's favor.

At this time Liu Zhou also remembered that he and Huayi had at least reconciled on the surface, so Huayi's actors could also be used.

Liu Zhou had never thought of Huayi before, but now he has. He feels that Fan Xiaopang is very suitable for the role of the "very smooth" Zhang Yan, but he doesn't know if she will agree to play such a small supporting role.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou received several calls asking about his new film. He knew that he had to change his mobile phone, and from now on he would use this as his work phone and give it to Zeng Jia for safekeeping.

Liu Zhou then contacted Hu Jun first. Since they were alumni of the Central Academy of Drama, he and He Bing both came to support the performance of "Duds".

The two met at that time and exchanged contact information.

Although several years have passed, their relationship has not been severed and they still send messages to each other during the New Year holidays.

When Liu Zhou invited him to act in a movie, he asked when the filming would start. After learning that there would be no time conflict, he immediately agreed.

At this time, he had already received an invitation from Zhang Da Huzi and would join the crew of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" after the Chinese New Year.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou contacted Sun Honglei, and after careful consideration, he chose him for the role of Ding Xiu.

Sun Honglei has more of a ruffian and evil vibe, so he is more suitable than Duan Long.

Moreover, Brother Huaqiang will be online next year, and Sun Honglei will soon become popular nationwide.

To be honest, with an investment of tens of millions, even Liu Zhou felt a certain amount of pressure, so he took into account any points that could increase the box office.

Sun Honglei is now only slightly famous because of the drama "Never Forget You", so he immediately accepted the invitation from the great director Liu Zhou.

The news of Liu Zhou’s new movie has now spread throughout the industry. He didn’t expect that he would have the opportunity to participate in this project.

It was relatively smooth to invite these two people, but there were some twists and turns when inviting Zhao Wenzhuo.

After all, he is a popular star, so his schedule will be fuller. Plus, Liu Zhou was a bit rushed this time, so he needs to read the script before replying.

The reason why Liu Zhou is in a hurry now is mainly because he forgot that there will be influenza next year, and half a year has passed.

Therefore, Liu Zhou had to hurry up and finish filming "The Swordsman" before the Chinese New Year.

However, the script of "The Swordsman" was of high quality, and the role of Zhao Jingzhong was quite outstanding, so Zhao Wenzhuo accepted the role after reading the script.

Finally, only the role of Jin Yichuan was left, and Liu Zhou first contacted Xie Tingfeng's agent Huo Wenxi.

Huo Wenxi had received relevant information from Andy Lau before, so he was very enthusiastic about Liu Zhou's call.

Liu Zhou is not a small director from the mainland, and he is not just a director, so Huo Wenxi doesn't dare to put on airs from the Hong Kong circle in front of him.

Emperor Entertainment Group has recently been discussing and planning to gradually shift its investment focus to co-productions and mainland film and television projects in the next two to three years.

As one of the mountain strongholds in the mainland, Liu Zhou certainly wouldn't look for trouble.

Therefore, the process of Liu Zhou inviting Xie Tingfeng to join "Xiu Chun Dao" went very smoothly.

Since Xie Tingfeng already had the confirmed news, Liu Zhou did not go to look for Wu Yanzu again.

In fact, Xie Tingfeng was also Liu Zhou’s first choice.

At this time, Xie Tingfeng was not only more popular, but also had better acting skills and more fans.

Wu Yanzu's handsomeness has not yet spread throughout the mainland.

But just as Liu Zhou was about to hang up the phone, Huo Wenxi suddenly said:

"Director Liu, does your film still need investment?"

"Oh, Emperor Entertainment Group wants to invest in my movie?"

"That's right. We have heard of Director Liu's reputation in Hong Kong a long time ago. Of course, we hope to make a fortune with Director Liu."

Liu Zhou pondered for a while and said:

"Yes, but I haven't figured out the budget yet, so I can't be sure how much investment I can allocate."

"That's okay. We will arrange for someone to come to the capital right away, and we can discuss it in detail then."

When Huo Wenxi heard the affirmative answer, his tone became obviously excited.

"Okay, let's talk in person then."

(End of this chapter)