Chapter 229
Chapter 229: Coming!
The two women chatted and discussed business .
“I’m thankful for you to come over here as soon as you came back . It means that we have a chance to work, right?” Zheng Rongrong asked in good order while drinking coffee .
Zhu Mei only got out of the mountain two days ago and turned on her phone .
Then her phone was bombarded in less than two or three hours .
Although it had been more than a month since the end of the serialization of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’, the book version of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ was still the bestselling book across the bookstores in the country and sat firmly at the first position .
In this era where paper books weren’t popular anymore, one third of the 5 million copies were sold .
At least 80% of it would be sold by June at this rate .
It was a very high probability that they would print another batch this year .
It was Zhejiang Newspaper Group’s business how much money they made but this kind of sales represented the influence of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ in the eyes of the film company .
Just think about it, how good would it be if the tens of millions of fans of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ went to watch it?
Not to mention the fact that many fans of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ had mentioned they may not necessarily go buy the book but definitely be interested in going to see the movie .
As long as they could get the fans and ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ get a good start, it wouldn’t be hard for the movie to gross 200 to 300 million .
If it was shot well, it wouldn’t be impossible for it to reach 500 million!
What did 500 million in box office sales mean in China?
Even Chen Hao’s ‘Haunted Devil Cave’ from five years ago grossed 500 million and it was seventh highest domestic film box office .
Literary film that was capable of becoming the seventh highest box office film, how could they not be satisfied?
It would be a great honor to any company that produced it!
And the one directing ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ was most probably Chu Liuxiang’s good friend Zhu Mei . Although it wasn’t confirmed by the boss, everybody was sure of it .
Zhu Mei had always filmed literary films and had many loyal fans . Then, ‘Love Letter’ of last year broke the box office record of Hao He for literary films and became the number one of literary films .
Since then, many called her the ‘Queen of Literary Film’ .
It was impossible for such a director to film a bad movie!
Therefore, when one of their staff members that was dedicated to dial her number everyday learned that Zhu Mei’s phone could be called, it took less than an hour for the entire entertainment industry to know it .
Big bosses from all sides were fighting each other to gain the favor of this Queen of Literary Film’ and win over the production of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ .
It wasn’t just a matter of profit and box office record of literary and artistic films . In everyone’s opinion, ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ was born to take away all the awards from major film festivals .
Aside from the Oscars, they probably even have the ability to be able to compete for influential awards such as the Golden Globes .
Not to mention if it was put in Asia, it would basically win all the awards of the international film festival of China, Japan and South Korea .
Just think about it .
A film that could make a lot of money, break box office records of literary and artistic films and win a bunch of coveted awards, what kind of people would dare to not take it seriously?
But no matter how much they called, Zhu Mei had only the same answer .
“Thank you for your appreciation but I need time to think about it . ”
Then she came to Shanhai Streaming main office in Huajin the third day .
Hearing Zheng Rongrong unconcealed big ambition, Zhu Mei said with a smile, “In reality, I already discussed it with Teacher Chu a few months before and he suggested that I come to Shanhai Streaming . ”
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“Oh?”
Zheng Rongrong became curious after learning that the mysterious writer suggested it, “What kind of person is Teacher Chu? I really want to meet him . To tell you the truth, I really love ‘A Bowl of Plain Noodle’, it reminded me of days when my family wasn’t rich… I also love ‘Love Letter’, I love this kind of pure love and I love even more the gentle sunshine and despair from ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’…”
You have known him for a long time .
You value him a lot .
You also hired him to star in your company’s TV series .
But you still didn’t know that a genius could be that amazing .
He could write books, songs and was also great in mathematics . He had outstanding talents and was completely different from a normal human .
“You will know it in the future . He doesn’t allow me to talk about him for now . ” Zhu Mei just dodged the question, “Teacher Chu that if you want to make a movie such as our literary type, you must find a boss that understands literary movies and also look for a boss that is willing to invest in the literary movie as well as a daring one . To make it short, you are the best choice . ”
“To be honest with President Zheng, your support and generosity with ‘Love Letter’ won over Teacher Chu’s gratitude and friendship so he believed that cooperating with Shanhai Streaming once more to make another unprecedented achievement will definitely be very interesting . ”
A big smile appeared on Zheng Rongrong’s face after all that flattery .
The Princess disdained flattery .
But it depended on the person doing it .
If it was someone from her company or an unscrupulous reporter, she would just treat as farts .
But since that comment was made by Teacher Chu, Zheng Rongrong felt like Chu Liuxiang had very good eyes and that he was a person with drive .
“Since Teacher Chu already said so, it would be too inappropriate for me to be stingy . ” Zheng Rongrong said with a smile, “Director Zhu, you can say it if you have any request . We will definitely do it if Shanhai Streaming can! Money isn’t a problem, no matter what actor you want, I’ll get them no matter the cost and even personally go invite them for you!”
Zhu Mei wouldn’t feel moved by that generous offer .
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Because what she held in her hands was ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ .
This movie was destined to create a miracle in the Chinese box office for literary films and had a strong base with a lot of fans and good public opinion .
Unlike ‘Love Letter’, ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ had a lot of fans as one third of Weibo’s big celebrities were fans of it .
The people online would blow it up and do advertisement on it even if they didn’t spend a single dime for advertisement .
There was a definite number but through various hype and advertisement on the internet, there should at least be 5 million fans who would come watch it . It was calculated based on the 1% of 500 million Internet users, a very conservative number .
15 yuan for a ticket so 5 million was 75 million in box office .
This was without counting those book fans .
Those who still read books in the era must be fond of literature so they definitely wouldn’t miss the adaptation of a book they liked .
If only half of them turned up, it would be at least 4 million people and that was another 60 million .
A literary film that had a guarantee of 135 million in box office, who else could do it?
In terms of cost, along the budget for advertisement wasn’t counted, the cost for a literary film was the lowest amongst all types of film .
There were no explosions, no big special effect, no otherworldly background scene or complicated scenes to film, just simple storytelling .
As for the main cost in movies, pay, it wasn’t much .
In general, it was already counted as expensive for actors to get paid half of their usual price to star in the movies and most of them just got a symbolic salary .
As for starring in a movie like ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ that would go down in history, most stars wouldn’t care about salaries as they would rush to come as long as news for casting came out .
This wasn’t bragging or exaggeration for Zhu Mei to say that as long as she was a qualified movie star and the schedules were suitable, eight out of ten wouldn’t refuse as long as she called and she could give the condition as she saw fit .
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Therefore, Zheng Rongrong’s guarantee of spending a lot of money was just expressing her attitude but it didn’t have much effect .
However, Zhu Mei was still looking forward to how extensively Shanhai Streaming would promote their cooperation .
Wouldn’t she feel embarrassed if she didn’t spend at least 300 million for ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ after spending 200 million for ‘Love Letter’?
“If it could be done, I wish we could build our own prison in accordance with the book and our imagination so I can create the best details for the important scenes in ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ . ” Zhu Mei became more generous with more money, “The budget will probably exceed 5 million…”
“What is 5 million?” Zheng Rongrong just interrupted her, “Just do as you wish, it doesn’t matter how much money you spend as long as it’s good . ”
“No, it won’t be a literary film anymore if we spend too much money . ” Zhu Mei was very satisfied with the money but wouldn’t abuse it, “It will cost a bit more for setting but everything can be done for around 20 million . ”
“Alright”
Zheng Rongrong wasn’t going to interfere with the budget as it didn’t matter to her .
“However, I’m already prepared for Teacher Chu and Director Zhu’s pay . ” Zheng Rongrong wanted to further express her attitude on this, “Director Zhu, your team will have 15% of the box office profit while Teacher Chu will have 10%, what do you think?”
“Ours is too high . ” Zhu Mei said, “Just give us the same as Teacher Chu . ”
After getting so much money from ‘Love Letter’, Zhu Mei didn’t have to worry about money and filming was the most important to her .
“Okay then . ” Zheng Rongrong agreed, “You two will get 10% but if the box office exceeds 1 billion, I’ll give you guys another big red packet!”
“Thank You!”
Zhu Mei was very grateful to Zheng Rongrong’s generosity and the two basically finished negotiating .
The rest was just preparing for it and the casting choice .
But before that, she had to go to Lin’an and discuss it with Teacher Chu Liuxiang!
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