Chapter 363 Money Must Be Talked About

"cooperate?"

Liu Zhou was a little surprised. He had thought of many other possibilities, but he had never thought that Zhou Xingxing came here to seek cooperation.

But on second thought, it seems normal.

After filming "CJ7", Stephen Chow completely retreated behind the scenes. The first movie he wrote and directed was "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", which grossed nearly 1.3 billion yuan.

At the same time, this was also the beginning of Zhou Xingxing's complete focus of his career on the mainland.

For Zhou Xingxing, who does not have much roots in the mainland, if he wants to make movies in the mainland, it would be safer to find a strong mainland film company to cooperate with.

Historically, he approached Huayi, and now, he approached Golden Harvest.

"That's right, it's cooperation."

"So, Zhou Sheng, how are you going to cooperate?"

"I have a film project related to Journey to the West, and I want to cooperate with Golden Harvest to produce it."

Sure enough, that should be "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons".

If it is this movie, Liu Zhou would certainly be interested, after all, it has a box office of over 1 billion.

If Lost in Thailand had not broken the 1 billion box office mark in the original time and space, the sensation caused by Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons would have been even greater.

But despite this, if such a big hit movie can be released, it will be extremely good news for Golden Harvest's stock price in the future.

"I don't think any company can refuse the opportunity to cooperate with Mr. Zhou," Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

"So, Mr. Liu, you agree?"

"Of course!"

"Don't you want to read the script?"

"No need to watch it. I believe Mr. Zhou's attitude towards movies will not lead to him making a bad movie. But I have a question for you."

"what is the problem?"

“Will Mr. Zhou appear in this movie?”

Hearing Liu Zhou's question, Zhou Xingxing couldn't help but laugh:

"Why would you ask this question, Mr. Liu? I have never told anyone that I will not act in movies anymore."

"There is no other reason, maybe it's just intuition. I think writing, directing and acting is too tiring and mentally taxing. And I saw in CJ7 that Mr. Zhou seemed to be a little overwhelmed."

At this time, Zhou Xingxing put away his smile, sighed and said:

"Yes, it is really tiring to write, direct and act in a movie by myself. Now that I am older, I don't have as much energy as when I was young."

"So Zhou Sheng, are you really not going to act anymore?"

“I have this idea, but I am indeed ready to step back from the screen, and after acting in movies for so long, I feel like I can no longer bring something new to the audience.

Rather than being scolded in the future, it is better to step down on your own initiative, which is more decent. "

Hearing this, Liu Zhou couldn't help but sigh in his heart. As a viewer, it was indeed a great pity that Stephen Chow would never appear on the screen again.

However, Liu Zhou would not persuade others. For Zhou Xingxing himself, perhaps the most painful decision was made by himself.

From "The King of Comedy", you can see how much he loves acting.

Moreover, Liu Zhou can empathize to a certain extent. If one day in the future, Liu Zhou feels that he is unable to cope with filming and its reputation gradually declines, he will also think about stopping filming.

After all, it is rare to find someone as energetic as Zhang Yimou and able to always maintain a strong desire to create.

But even someone as strong as Zhang Yimou still has a lot of people criticizing him.

Especially for "Man Jiang Hong", the bigger the box office, the more controversy it had.

Liu Zhou doesn’t think that “Man Jiang Hong” is that good, but at least it is a good movie. However, it has attracted large-scale complaints, which is a bit abnormal.

Liu Zhou feels that he can never do what Zhang Yimou has done. When he really loses passion for making movies or is no longer able to do so, he will make the same choice as Stephen Chow.

"That's a shame. If your fans knew that you wanted to step back, they would be very excited and even cry."

"There is nothing I can do about it, but I am not completely quitting the film and television industry. I will mainly focus on directing from now on."

"Okay, let's talk about cooperation then."

Normally, Liu Zhou would not show up for such specific cooperation discussions, and Zhang Zhao would usually be in charge.

But since Zhou Xingxing found Liu Zhou directly, Liu Zhou also gave him face and talked to him in person.

When talking about business, Zhou Xingxing also became serious, took out a document from his bag, handed it to Liu Zhou and said:

"Here is the script. Mr. Liu can take a look at it first."

Liu Zhou didn't hesitate and took the script and started reading it.

The script is somewhat different from the version that Liu Zhou remembered being released, and it seems that it has been modified later. Even the name of the movie is now simply named "Journey to the West".

But the general main plot remains unchanged. In this case, there shouldn't be any surprises in this movie.

The script was not very thick, and Liu Zhou read it for more than ten minutes and roughly browsed through it.

"Mr. Zhou, it seems that you have a special liking for Journey to the West."

"The theme of Journey to the West is indeed very good, and there are many stories to be discovered." "We at Golden Harvest have invested in this project. How do you plan to cooperate with us, Mr. Zhou?" Liu Zhou asked directly.

Zhou Xingxing had a plan in mind for this. He paused and replied:

"I hope that this project will be jointly invested by Golden Harvest and Star Shine, but the production of the film will be handed over to Star Shine, and Golden Harvest can arrange people to supervise the use of funds."

Liu Zhou also understood what Stephen Chow meant by this. Golden Harvest could participate in the investment and help manage the money, but he would not be involved in the filming of the movie.

"can!"

Liu Zhou had nothing to worry about and nodded in agreement.

Zhou Xingxing is also a relatively strong person, and is used to controlling everything in the crew. In fact, Liu Zhou is the same, and does not want others to interfere in his crew.

What's more, Liu Zhou had no intention of interfering recklessly. His purpose of investing in Stephen Chow's movie was very simple, to make money and increase the stock price.

Hearing Liu Zhou's affirmative reply, Zhou Xingxing couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

His control over the crew is the prerequisite for cooperation. If Liu Zhou disagrees, he can only find another partner.

But he really didn't want to look for other companies. As the most powerful film and television company in mainland China and even in the entire Chinese entertainment industry, Golden Harvest can be said to be his most ideal partner.

As long as this disagreement is resolved, other conditions can be discussed.

"The budget for the Journey to the West project was 120 million. I was responsible for directing, writing, and producing the entire film, which cost 30 million. I invested another 10 million, accounting for one-third of the total.

Jiahe invested 80 million, accounting for two-thirds of the share. What do you think, Mr. Liu?"

"no problem!"

The entire production team of Stephen Chow was valued at 30 million, which is indeed not a low price, considering that he will not be starring in the film this time.

But Liu Zhou agreed without hesitation because he was worth the price.

And the 30 million is not all for Stephen Chow. It also includes the salaries of all production team members except the actors during the filming period.

As for how the division would be specific and how Zhou Xingxing and his company would divide the investment shares, Liu Zhou didn't care.

The Bigo Group owned by Zhou Xingxing, which is the company after the restructuring of Star Shine, is not solely owned by him. There are other shareholders, and the investment shares must be clearly divided.

Liu Zhou was also happy about this, as it made Jiahe's work much easier.

"Finally, if the box office exceeds expectations, I hope to receive a certain amount of box office dividends as a reward."

"This condition is impossible. If you want a share of the box office profits, that's fine. But I can only give you three million for your director and filming team."

"Three million might not even be enough to hire a good photographer."

“But you can’t ask for both high pay and dividends. You can only choose one. I have never asked for such a high price in my cooperation with China Film.

Moreover, your box office exceeded expectations, but the standard is too vague. How many billions of box office is considered to exceed expectations?"

Although Liu Zhou attaches great importance to this cooperation with Zhou Xingxing, he will not blindly accommodate him.

Now he is no longer the director Stephen Chow, but the boss Stephen Chow, and everything is done according to the rules.

Liu Zhou also hopes to continue working with him after "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons". After all, the 3.3 billion box office of "The Mermaid" is really amazing.

Therefore, in order to avoid any disputes in the future like Huayi, everything must be made clear in advance and also included in the contract.

In the original time and space, the Wang brothers were a little too proud and made a verbal promise to Zhou Xingxing.

But no one expected that the box office of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" would be so high, far exceeding the standard for fulfilling the promise, so the dispute between Huayi and Zhou Xingxing began.

The Wang brothers were actually a bit of a cheat. When they saw that they had to give Zhou Xingxing more than 80 million, they felt a little distressed, so they refused to pay on the grounds that no contract had been signed.

Moreover, Huayi’s market value was nearly 100 billion yuan at the time, and it was at its peak. Although Zhou Xingxing was very famous, he had no roots in the mainland after all.

That's why the Wang brothers dared to cheat and not pay dividends to Zhou Xingxing.

But Zhou Xingxing is the kind of person who attaches great importance to money and is quite serious about things. He thinks that since he has made a verbal promise, he should fulfill it.

In the end, the two sides went to court.

Although Huayi won the lawsuit, it lost its partner Zhou Xingxing, which can only be said to be extremely short-sighted.

Liu Zhou hopes to continue to cooperate with Zhou Xingxing for a long time, so he must clarify the issue of money with him.

Seeing Zhou Xingxing fall silent, Liu Zhou continued:

"When I cooperate with China Film Group, I usually either choose a high salary or share the risk with the crew and choose a low salary and dividends. There is no reason to have it all."

Seeing Liu Zhou’s tough attitude, Zhou Xingxing knew that it was impossible for him to get the dividend reward.

But he was unwilling to give up the 30 million yuan package salary, as he always believed in putting money in pocket.

Of the 30 million, he would get at least 20 million.

In fact, the 30 million can be considered as his investment in the movie, but if he just takes the dividends, then his Bigo Group will have to pay more money.

After a while, Zhou Xingxing said:

"Okay, then no box office dividend reward."

"So it's a pleasure working together?"

"Happy cooperation!"

(End of this chapter)