Millennium director

The rehearsal of the drama "Romeo and Juliet" started with a stumbling start.

Whether it is Wu Yuan or Luo Jin, Zhu Yawen, Liu Yifei and others, this drama rehearsal is a rare exercise.

Every week, Wu Yuan takes them to rehearse on the weekends, helping them integrate into the characters bit by bit, integrating the storyline and themes into the entire theater atmosphere.

While Wu Yuan was busy rehearsing the drama, time was passing quietly.

As the weather gradually turned hotter, the pneumonia epidemic was gradually brought under control.

Zhang Guorong did not take the leap like Wu Yuan dreamed, but was enthusiastically preparing for the release of his new movie.

"Stealing Hearts" has been rescheduled to be released simultaneously in mainland China and Hong Kong Island on June 4.

"The Hangover" was successfully released on a small scale in North America, with a box office of more than 5 million US dollars in its first week, and the number of theaters it was released in is growing rapidly.

Wu Yuan himself, while rehearsing the drama, had almost perfected the script of "Your Name" and started the preliminary preparations for the film.

First of all, the first thing he had to do was to ask Director Han for a favor.

On April 21, Wu Yuan came to the China Film Group Building with the script.

Without any obstruction, he arrived at Director Han's office.

"Director Wu, you are a rare visitor."

Director Han, who was reviewing documents, saw Wu Yuan coming to visit. He was stunned at first, and then a smile appeared on his face.

He knew very well that Wu Yuan never came to the Three Treasures Hall for anything, and would never come to China Film Academy when he had nothing to do.

Seeing Wu Yuan in the office this time means that Director Wu can't stand the loneliness and wants to do something!

Sure enough, after Wu Yuan entered the door, he walked straight to Director Han's desk and put a script on the table.

"Director Han, this is the script of my new movie."

"I plan to shoot in mainland China during the summer vacation and try to release it within the year."

The wait is finally here!

Director Han's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked without even looking at the script: "What's the budget?"

"Forty to fifty million, no more than sixty million yuan at most." Wu Yuan spread his hands.

"We have voted for China Film Academy!" Director Han waved his hand and said without hesitation.

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Wu Yuan's reaction, Director Han kept talking and said with some pity: "It's a bit short. I thought you would make a movie with an investment of over 100 million."

"Invest over 100 million? Where should I go?" Wu Yuan was dumbfounded.

"You are a well-known director in Hollywood, but you are still worried that the movie will not sell?" Director Han said with an envious tone: "Both "Juno" and "The Executioner" have done very well at the box office in Japan and South Korea."

"Other mainland directors' films cannot be sold in Japan and South Korea. Only films from Hong Kong Island have an Asian market."

"But you are different. You are a Hollywood-level director. Your movies are sold throughout Asia. Even if you invest 100 million in a movie, you won't be able to make back your money."

"Director Han, I plan to invest in my new movie this time." Wu Yuan spread his hands, "This year, private companies have fully liberalized investment in movies."

"I also plan to set up my own film production company. I will invest my own money in the future and make my own films. I will be responsible for the profits and losses. This will also reduce the burden on China Film."

"If China Film Group wants to take a stake in this movie, I will only accept a maximum investment ratio of 20%, and I will pay the rest myself."

"So I still have to save some money, and it's not easy to make some money."

Although the overseas box office distribution of "The Embalmer" has not been obtained so soon.

But with the money from selling the copyright plus the box office split between the Mainland and Hong Kong Island, as well as the director's fee of US$8 million, Wu Yuan now has US$10 million in hand.

It's definitely more than enough to make a "Your Name" movie.

Director Han's words are indeed not wrong. Wu Yuan also feels that even if he makes a commercial film with an investment of over 100 million, he can still make money by relying on the Asian market.

"Juno" and "The Embalmer" have already proven this for him.

Even if Wu Yuan invests 100 million in his next movie, as long as there is an Asian market, there is no need to worry about not being able to recoup the cost.

But this does not mean that Wu Yuan will listen to Director Han and make blockbusters with an investment of over 100 million.

Why spend 100 million when you can get box office revenue with an investment of about 40 to 50 million? This is not a very cost-effective choice.

Spending half as much money may not necessarily double the box office results.

Speaking of which, for the two films "The Night the Comet Came" and "The Embalmer", Wu Yuan's share of profits to China Film Group was enough.

If it hadn't been for the filming of "The Embalmer", all his money was spent on the filming of "The Hangover" by Guang Era, and he wouldn't have much money for a while, otherwise Wu Yuan of "The Embalmer" wouldn't have let China Film Group Corporation take over it. So many.

Now that he wants to make movies solely on his own, he must be pursuing the maximum profit ratio.

Spending 50 to 60 million is really enough. For other mainland directors, such an investment is already unimaginable.

"Hey, you kid!" Han Dong pointed at Wu Yuan, shook his head and laughed.

Wu Yuan's words were beautiful and relieved China Film's burden.

This statement can be applied to other fifth- and sixth-generation directors. Most fifth- and sixth-generation directors have basically lost all the investment they received from China Film and Television, and few have ever recovered their original investment.

But Wu Yuan is different. This is a high-quality stock, and the money invested in him can be earned back several times.

Don't you just want to make more money and don't want to share the profits with China Film Group? Director Han is completely understandable, and he doesn't mind this very much.

The purpose of liberalizing policies above is to introduce private capital to activate the film market. As the leading state-owned enterprise in the film industry, China Film Group must respond to the policy.

It's good that Wu Yuan is willing to invest his own money in making movies.

It's his ability to make a lot of money by making his own movies!

But Han Dong's doubts also followed.

"You didn't come to me for investment?" Director Han asked strangely: "Then you came to me specifically to inform you that you are going to make a new movie?"

"Just make a phone call and talk about it. There's no need to go there in person."

"Of course not." Wu Yuan shook his head and sat down, "I have something to ask of Director Han."

"You should know some people from the Baodao entertainment industry here, right?"

"Can you help me contact a band on Baodao?"

"The band's name is Mayday, and they won the Golden Melody Award for Best Band."

"I'd like to ask them to help me do some music for this new movie."

Wu Yuan came up with the idea of ​​asking Mayday to write songs for "Your Name" when he was chatting with Liu Yifei.

The movie "Love in May" tells the story of two Mayday fans who met each other through the Internet and then ran away on the treasure island.

It was Liu Yifei who mentioned this movie that made Wu Yuan think of the band Mayday.

You know, in the original "Your Name", several of the soundtracks are perfect and fit perfectly with this movie.

Both the theme song "Previous Lives" and Sanye's personal song "Sparks" are very nice to listen to. The most important thing is that they fit the characters and the theme of the movie.

For movies, soundtrack is a very important part.

Excellent soundtrack can bring a very high blessing to the movie, and even become the symbol and memory point of the movie, achieving mutual success.

For example, “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic”, “He’s a Pirate” from “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and “Pacific Rim” from “Pacific Rim”.

As soon as the music plays, people will think of these movies, or when they see these movies, they will think of these songs.

What's more, just mentioning a few keywords can remind people of classic soundtrack clips.

For example, when it comes to snowy days, phone booths, and Yuan Hua, "One Cut Plum" automatically plays in my mind.

This is how important the soundtrack is to the film.

The soundtrack of the original "Your Name" is very good, but the original songs are all in Japanese and were written by an RB pop band.

Wu Yuan's singing level is still acceptable. Although he has never learned a professional musical instrument and cannot compose music, he can still sing a cappella some Chinese songs that he has an impression of.

Japanese songs are really bad, so asking Wu Yuan to reproduce them is really a bit difficult for him.

The most he can hum is a rough melody, but he still has to hire a professional music production team to supplement it or even create it anew.

In the Chinese music scene, Wu Yuan thought about it and only Mayday was qualified for this job.

It’s not that Mayday is so good that it is invincible in the Chinese music scene, but in the Chinese music scene, there are only a few pop rock bands.

Mainland bands such as Tang Dynasty and Black Panther are pure rock bands. Their songs are great, but they are not suitable for a youth romance movie.

When it comes to youth love, Mayday is the most suitable pop rock band at this stage.

They are taking the popular route.

In 2001, Mayday won the Best Band Award at the 12th Baodao Golden Melody Awards for their second album "Long Live Love".

And in this album, there is a song called "Tenderness".

At this time, Mayday was already famous on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Next year they will have a blockbuster song that will be popular all over the country.

This song is called "Stubborn".

At this time, it is the most suitable time to ask Mayday to compose the soundtrack for "Your Name".

They are already popular, but they are not completely popular yet. They are on the rise and their value is just right.

And Mayday is indeed good at writing songs for film and television dramas.

They later wrote "Step by Step", "Entering the Army", "Midsummer Light Years", "General's Order" and "The Next Us" for film and television dramas, all of which were great.

Wu Yuan was relatively relieved to find this band to provide the soundtrack for "Your Name".

Although Director Han didn't know this Baodao band, he always wanted money and support from Wu Yuan.

Director Han immediately agreed to Wu Yuan's request on the spot and would help Wu Yuan contact the band as soon as possible.

"No problem, I'll contact you and ask them to come to the capital to meet you as soon as possible!"

From Director Han's point of view, if Wu Yuan wants to find a band from Baodao to make the soundtrack for his new movie, then the other party must have reached a high level. As long as he is notified, the other party will definitely come to the capital to meet Wu Yuan.

It is impossible for Wu Yuan to go to Baodao to meet them in person.

Coincidentally, Wu Yuan thought so too.

After finalizing the matter, Wu Yuan chatted with Director Han for a few more words and left China Film Group with satisfaction.

After completing this matter, there is only one more important thing left in the preliminary preparations for "Your Name".

Later that night, after Wu Yuan determined that it was early morning in the United States, he called Jerry.

"Jerry, can you contact Industrial Light \u0026 Magic for me?"

"Yes, I have some special effects that I need their help with."

"No, no, no, it's just a special effects scene that adds up to about a minute."

"OK, thanks."

This chapter has three thousand words!