Chapter 655

"Sino-Japanese co-production?" Wu Yuan was stunned, and looked at the Toei executive with some curiosity.

This is really novel.

In the past few years, and even now, it is indeed very popular in the Chinese film industry to co-produce movies with foreign production companies.

There are many Sino-Korean co-productions, Sino-US co-productions, Sino-French co-productions, and Sino-British co-productions.

Just like Liu Yifei was approached by a Sino-Korean co-production called "The Third Way of Love", who wanted to invite her to play the leading role.

Then Wu Yuan rejected this without hesitation.

Nine out of ten of this kind of co-productions are bad movies, and there is really no good movie.

Because cultural differences are the biggest interference element of this kind of co-production, it is still a problem that is difficult to eliminate.

At the same time, the different concepts and different understandings of the script culture of the Chinese crew and foreign staff will eventually result in the movie becoming a mess.

This is the result proved by countless co-productions in the circle over the past few years.

In this case, Toei still wants to make a co-production?

What is even more amazing is that when China started this trend of co-production films, Japanese film companies have never been involved.

Even if some Chinese film companies actively sought cooperation, they were rejected.

As mentioned before, the entertainment industry in Japan is relatively conservative and stereotyped. They are not very receptive to this kind of "new things". This concept is sometimes a bad thing, and sometimes it is indeed a good thing.

For example, it is a good thing that there is no Sino-Japanese co-production of films, so as to save money.

But I didn't expect that Toei would have this idea now?

Toei Co., Ltd., founded in 1949, is one of the five major film companies in Japan.

The five major film companies in Japan are just like the five major gangsters. In fact, only the first two are the real big companies, namely Toho and Toei.

Wu Yuan has always cooperated with Toho before, but he has not had much contact with Toei, but Toei's influence in Japan is actually not inferior to Toho.

This is mainly due to Toei Animation and Asahi TV under Toei.

Most of Japan's internationally influential anime, especially the big IPs, are almost all from Toei.

For example, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, One Piece, Digimon, Saint Seiya, and the special drama Kamen Rider series are also from Toei.

The remaining "Detective Conan", "Naruto", "Godzilla", "Doraemon", and "Crayon Shin-chan" series belong to Toho, and they are on par in the field of anime.

But in the field of live-action movies, Toho has a strong lineup of writers, directors, and actors, including Akira Kurosawa. Almost all of Japan's top directors, screenwriters, and actors are in Toho's hands, or have a cooperative relationship with Toho.

In this regard, Toei is inferior.

Thinking of this, Wu Yuan immediately understood why Toei would take the initiative to communicate with him.

Toho, which is the first in the live-action movie industry, naturally does not seek change, but Toei seeks change, and they want to find a breakthrough in the field of live-action movies.

And cooperating with Wu Yuan, a director who is very popular and influential in both China and Japan, is a good start.

"Director Wu Yuan, many of your films are sought after by Japanese fans, which shows that you can create works that are loved by fans in both China and Japan."

"We very much hope to cooperate with your Light and Shadow Times Film Company to launch Sino-Japanese co-production films."

"It would be best if you could write the script yourself, and for this we can accept an unequal investment and profit-sharing ratio."

Unequal?

Wu Yuan understood immediately.

It means that Toei can accept half of the production costs, but it does not pursue half of the profits, and it can accept one-third.

This kind of unequal cooperation is generally so servile only when Asian countries cooperate with Hollywood.

For example, when Huayi filmed "The Forbidden Kingdom", it paid the most money, but when it came to the final distribution of the profits, Huayi did not take the most money, the most money was taken by the US side.

Because Huayi had to rely on "Sino-US co-production" and "Hollywood-level blockbusters" for publicity throughout the process, it needed the US side to contribute this layer of skin, so it had to make concessions.

Now this role will become Toei.

Wu Yuan's influence in Japan is still not small, and his "Your Name" is also super successful in Japan, proving that his movies can also meet the Japanese market.

This has the basis for cooperation.

However, Wu Yuan stared at the Toei executive in front of him, but did not intend to agree.

How to cooperate?

He really doesn't remember the excellent Japanese movies.

If he had any impression, he would have asked the Japanese branch to cooperate with Toho on his own initiative. Why wait for Toei to come to the door?

Wu Yuan's shallow impression of Japanese film and television mainly stays on Japanese anime and a few very popular Japanese dramas.

For example, "Unnatural Death"

There are really few Japanese movies that are popular, so he has seen few of them. The few that are also literary films that won the three major awards in Europe, and it is definitely a loss or no money to cooperate with them.

Could it be that he will continue to fleece Makoto Shinkai?

A live-action version of "Weathering with You"?

By the way, Makoto Shinkai's "The Garden of Words" was just released in Japan this year, and achieved very good box office results, which can be regarded as a new star.

It's not appropriate to take advantage of others' wool again, right?

After thinking about it, Wu Yuan shook his head and said, "I'm really sorry, Guangying Times has no plans to make co-productions at present."

"The company can't finish its own films. All human and material resources must be concentrated on our movie universe project. We will not consider overseas cooperation for the time being."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Wu Yuan rejected the cooperation invitation directly. Although the other party looked a little disappointed, he didn't continue to pester him. He just nodded regretfully and said, "I know. I hope I can have the opportunity to cooperate with Director Wu in the future."

After that, he took the initiative to walk away.

Liu Yifei was a little confused: "Didn't the company say that it should pay attention to developing the Japanese market? Why not make co-productions?"

It's hard to explain why Liu Yifei always has a good impression of co-productions. This inexplicable good impression makes Wu Yuan very strange.

"The development of the Japanese market is mainly for Guangying Kuaibo, which is focusing on online streaming platforms, not the film market."

"The Japanese film market basically belongs to animated films, and this is precisely our shortcoming."

"On the contrary, TV series have more development potential, and there are online platforms. At present, Guangying Kuaibo is working hard to obtain the online exclusive broadcast rights of Japanese animation, but this is a bit difficult, and the TV station is not willing to give up."

"As for the live-action film market, it is too difficult for outsiders to enter. Even if it is a co-production, the short-lived success of one or two films is meaningless. Guangying Era has developed to this point, and it is no longer a company that focuses on the box office of one or two movies."

"We need to make more important strategic layouts!" (End of this chapter)