Chapter 1397 Seeking the Commonality of Culture

While the executives of Uniasia were still considering whether to accept Li Mu's cooperation proposal, they suddenly received a message that Li Mu had bought the English remake rights of "Infernal Affairs" from Warner at a price of 3.5 million US dollars!

And Warner is really happy. It took less than a day to think about it, and another day to complete the process. Now, the copyright of the English remake of "Infernal Affairs" has belonged to Makino Image...

Uniasia was stunned when they heard the news. They didn't quite understand what tricks Li Mu was playing. They even gave themselves an offer to cooperate with the North American distribution rights of "Infernal Affairs", and the back was directly from Warner. Bought the English remake of "Infernal Affairs" at double the price.

Everyone knows that the goal of the English remake right itself is to point to the North American market. The senior management of Uniasia was particularly murmured. Several people gathered together to brainstorm and asked what the purpose of Li’s move was.

"What do you think Li Mu bought it for? Cooperate with us to bring the original "Infernal Affairs" to the North American market, and he can make money empty-handed. What a good thing!"

"You ask me, who do I ask? Is Li Mu trying to use this to coerce us into accepting his exploitation plan?"

"My God, when will we have to wait? He got the copyright today and started filming directly today. It will take at least half a year for it to be released! If we find a suitable partner, Infernal Affairs may be released in North America next month. Now! Everyone is not at the same time period at all..."

"Does Li Mu feel that the English version of "Infernal Affairs" has more profit margins?"

"It's unlikely. Although the script of "Infernal Affairs" is very good, it will definitely be unacceptable in Hollywood. In Hollywood, the production cost will be 30 million to 50 million US dollars. If the box office is less than 200 million, it will not make any money."

"May or not, the key depends on how the script is changed, who will shoot and who will act."

"Everyone, even if Li Muzhen thinks the remake of "Infernal Affairs" is profitable, it has nothing to do with our original "Infernal Affairs". Our top priority now is to determine how our "Infernal Affairs" will operate and sell it directly to Hollywood. Still accept Li Mu's cooperation plan."

"Li Mu's plan is ridiculous! We are the copyright owner, and he only gives us 30%! This guy's heart is really not ordinary! Unless he is willing to give us no less than 50% of the share, I will not agree with him. He cooperated!"

"Not less than 50%? Then let's report to him according to 50%!"

"Okay, I agree!"

...

When Li Mu heard about Uniasia's final offer from Li Ziwei,

He was not surprised at all, nor was he angry, he just said lightly: "Tell them directly, just say I take back the offer, and don't communicate with Muye Yingying about this movie in the future, and Muye Yingying will not be based on this film. Movies, any kind of collaboration with them."

"Okay!" Li Ziwei nodded immediately and said, "I'll reply to them right away."

Li Mu hurriedly said: "Don't be so anxious, there's no need, it's just a film company, whether it's the size of the company or the space for cooperation, it's nothing to us, just give them a reply when you're in a better mood."

After that, Li Mu shook his head mockingly, and said with a smile, "The more confused I am, the more backwards I am. A small film company has the confidence to bargain with me."

Li Ziwei smiled and said, "I understand your feelings. What you care about is whether Chinese-language films can get out of the Chinese circle, not how much money Chinese films can make."

Li Mu nodded and said: "For some capitalists, movies are indeed very profitable, but for me, the money that movies make is really pitiful, and I should be concerned about Muye Technology and Taobao Technology. When will it go public, when will the market value exceed the 100 billion dollar mark, instead of calculating whether a movie can be released in North America and earn a thousand and eight million, even if I want to make this kind of money, I should not do it myself. Focusing on other places is more cost-effective in terms of pure value, but after all, film is a powerful tool for cultural output, and if you want to do a good job in cultural output, the main battlefield of film must be firmly grasped.”

After speaking, Li Mu took a sip of water and said, "By the way, Ziwei, please help me contact Spielberg and ask him to tell the management of DreamWorks that I intend to prepare for the launch of the English version of "Infernal Affairs". This movie It will be Makino Imaging's next key film after "Flying Tigers", I hope to continue to cooperate with DreamWorks, if they are interested, they can arrange a video conference according to everyone's time."

"Okay, I'll get in touch with Director Spielberg."

Speaking of which, Li Ziwei hesitated for a moment, as if hesitating for a while, but still asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, I take the liberty to ask you, is this the case with the original "Infernal Affairs"? I always feel that it is a pity... "

Li Mu smiled slightly and asked, "Ziwei, what do you think of the movie "Infernal Affairs"?"

"It's very nice." Li Ziwei replied without hesitation: "It should be the best Hong Kong movie in recent years."

Li Mu asked with a smile, "What do you think is the good thing?"

Li Ziwei said: "The plot, the plot is great, the actors are also very good, and the lineup is strong. They are all well-known actors in the Hong Kong film industry."

Li Mu asked again, "Do you think North American audiences will like the original Infernal Affairs?"

"This..." Li Ziwei thought about it and said, "I think it should be possible? After all, there is a precedent for the success of "Mr. Zombie"."

Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "I don't agree with you. I don't think North American audiences can easily accept the original Infernal Affairs. At least, based on their understanding of China, they still can't accept it."

Li Ziwei asked, "Why do you say that?"

Li Mu said: "'Mr. Zombie' is actually very simple. It exports the system of Chinese Zombies, and it is itself a fictional folklore, so even if North American audiences don't understand Chinese culture, they will have a great sense of substitution. , this is the same as when we watch Hollywood sci-fi movies like "Alien". As long as we recognize the system of Alien, we will not feel any different than Westerners when watching that movie, but "Infernal Affairs" is different. ."

Li Ziwei hurriedly asked him, "Why?"

Li Mu said: "Infernal Affairs contains too many Chinese elements, and the flavor of Hong Kong films is too strong. The focus is on human nature, strategy, Buddhist fatalism, benevolence, morality, and endless purgatory. We understand, Westerners don’t understand it, and when Hong Kong is shooting feature films, they have a very unifying commonality, that is, the deeper the better, the deeper one thinks, the more successful it will be in terms of hitting the soul. It’s okay to say it’s okay because we accept and get used to it, but it’s too hard for Westerners to accept so many things they don’t understand all at once.”

Speaking of which, Li Mu added: "So when you watch Hollywood blockbusters, the main lines are clear, the rhythm is fast, and most of the characters are not so complicated. It can be said that they have distinct characteristics, especially action movies, which are basically nothing else. Come on. Just chatting and chatting, but the more such a movie is, the more popular it is all over the world, why? It is because of simplicity and straightforwardness. There are more than 200 countries, countless ethnic groups, and countless cultural styles in this world, and these Do you know how culture develops?"

Li Ziwei listened to the fog, shook her head blankly and said, "I don't know very well, this question seems to be a bit esoteric..."

Li Mu smiled and said: "Actually, it's not profound at all, let me tell you this, there are so many cultures in the world, it's like a huge towering tree, not only soaring into the sky, but also luxuriant and leafy. The leaves are extremely complex, but no matter how big a tree is, it also grows from a seed, germinates from a root system, grows into a sturdy trunk, and then slowly opens up branches and leaves to develop continuously. It is an extension of development, and the gap between different branches will be bigger."

"If each branch is a different culture, then each culture is not just its own branch, but traces its origin from its own branch to the trunk and roots that extend all the way. Although everyone has a common root, but Because the follow-up development path is completely different, so the difference is huge.

Although every culture has developed from the front end to the end for thousands of years, everyone who lives in the present lives at the end of their own culture, so you can't take what is at one end and let the other end People adopt and accept, what is Infernal Affairs? It is a relatively end product of our culture. Do you think that people who are not in our family can fully understand and accept it? "

Li Ziwei shook her head gently: "According to your metaphor, it should be difficult to accept."

Li Mu went on to say: "So back to the topic of Hollywood we just talked about, Hollywood action movies are very simple, they have no connotations and no special end-of-the-line culture, and they don't even use the end-of-the-line thinking of Western culture, but the front-end thinking, so it is a Western culture is a relatively front-end product, so as I said just now, every culture is actually a branch and leaf growing out of a tree, which is destined to be a rule: the more you explore the front-end of culture, the more you follow The closer the distance of other national cultures, and vice versa, the farther you are from them.

If the front end is advanced to the extreme and goes to the root of human civilization, then the cultures of all ethnic groups are actually the same. Don't open hatred, all cultures recognize that good people have good rewards, bad people have bad rewards, and they recognize that if they get beaten, they should be beaten back. It may not have depth, but it can be accepted and recognized by everyone. "

After speaking, Li Mu sighed softly and said, "In my opinion, this is the key to the success of Hollywood commercial blockbusters. When other movies such as Hong Kong movies are on the way to find depth, they turn around and put depth. Leave it behind and look for things that can be accepted by people from any cultural background in the world, so if you watch "Infernal Affairs" again, it stands at the back end of Chinese culture, and maybe some Western audiences can see it The depth of this movie is praised for its depth, but most Western audiences will not accept its depth, so it is destined to be difficult to achieve commercial success in North America."

Li Ziwei suddenly realized that she finally understood the relationship between commerciality and culture, understood why Li Mu was not optimistic about the box office potential of "Infernal Affairs" in North America, and understood why Hollywood could become the leader in the field of commercial films, but the more Knowing this, the more she wondered a question, and after she was puzzled, she asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, since you think it is difficult for Westerners to accept Infernal Affairs, why do you pay double the price to buy it? What about remaking the copyright and then investing in remaking it in English?"