"Biglow once cleared Cameron's account, and this time he swept away his grand prize." - The New York Post

"The Bomb Disposal Force defeated "Avatar", and independent film companies rose strongly!" - "Variety Show"

"Tingfeng Entertainment won a great victory, winning the Best Picture and Best Director Award!" - The Los Angeles Times

The next day, the United States conducted a large-scale report on "Bomb Disposal Force" and Tingfeng Entertainment. Many people who only know Paramount and Universal Pictures knew about this independent film company called Tingfeng Entertainment.

"Hollywood Reporter" One of the most authoritative media in Hollywood, after the Oscars were settled, the "Hollywood Reporter" published a long article to analyze the rise of Pinnacle Entertainment.

The article titled "New Players Smash Hollywood: Can Peak Entertainment Be the Seventh Biggest" reads: "In January this year, Peak Entertainment CEO Robert Freeman reported an exciting news to Zhang Ran. Peak Entertainment released a total of 15 movies last year, with a box office revenue of US$892 million in North America, accounting for 8.3% of the annual market share, surpassing the difficult Universal Pictures and ranked sixth. At the Oscars that ended yesterday, Peak Entertainment's three films released won 18 nominations and eventually won 7 awards, including the most important Best Picture and Best Director.

Since Zhang Ran acquired Tingfeng Entertainment in 2006, this small company, founded in 1993, has finally come to work. With the support of large amounts of funds, the company not only has gained a foothold in the US market, but has also become a major Hollywood player, and may even change our established understanding of the Hollywood film market structure.

In Hollywood history, there have been film companies that have been popular for a while, but due to unstable film quality and profits, the film will quickly decline after a few years. Spielberg's dream factory was burdened by funds and distribution, and sold its production business to Paramount at the end of 2005. After leaving Paramount in 2008, it was committed to Universal Pictures. The film company was first acquired by Warner, and in 2008, it was lowered to a small department of 50 people by Warner. So, will Tingfeng Entertainment quickly decline like these film companies? I don't think so.

Although Hollywood still judges success or failure by box office today, the box office power is minimal in the comparison of strength between companies. The businesses that really make money are theme parks, household audio-visual products and movie derivatives. The key to the decline of independent film companies such as DreamWorks and New Line is that they do not have the industrial chain of the six major film companies and can only make money by making money by movies. Movies are a high-risk industry. For independent film companies, once the box office fails, the company is at risk of bankruptcy.

Except for Disney, the six major Hollywood film companies are supported by the free industry chain kingdom, the other five are all dependent on large group companies. In this regard, Tingfeng Entertainment is the same as Paramount and other five companies. Behind it is the support of Century Peak. With the support of Century Peak, Tingfeng Entertainment has obtained a large amount of development funds..."

The article concluded at the end of the article: "Now Dingfeng Entertainment is spared no effort to expand its industrial chain, which is not far from traditional large studios such as Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. Dingfeng Entertainment is worthy of the seventh largest, and it can even be said to be the seventh largest in Hollywood. However, this title that has been used to this day is different. For Dingfeng Entertainment, which is a rising star, it does not matter whether it can get a similar ban."

Unlike the American media's attention to Tingfeng Entertainment, the Chinese media's focus is almost on the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. After all, this is the first time that the mainland director won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. A few years ago, Zhang Yimou was criticized by the media and thought that he had lost all his talents. Now he won the Best Foreign Language Film, the media instantly forgot to criticize him and began to sing him wildly, calling him the number one person in Chinese films.

At the same time, in the cafe of the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, Zhang Ran and Tom Cruise were sitting opposite each other, talking.

Tom Cruise was quite polite to Zhang Ran. Since falling out with Paramount in 2006, Tom Cruise's career has fallen into a trough. "The Sheep Entering the Mouth of the Sheep" collaborated with Robert Redford to only achieve a box office of 63 million yuan worldwide, and "Assassination of Hitler" was only 200 million yuan. At that time, Tingfeng Entertainment's "Edge of Tomorrow" found him, which undoubtedly helped him.

Tom Cruise looked at Zhang Ran and smiled and said, "Trim Entertainment won seven major awards at the Oscars, defeating Avatar and Cameron, winning Best Picture and Best Director. Now many media are saying that Trim Entertainment will become the seventh largest in Hollywood, and I think so too. You did what Spielberg and George Lucas didn't do, which is really amazing!"

Zhang Ran was not modest and smiled faintly: "Thank you, Tom, I'm very happy to hear you say this. I have always loved your movies, and my favorite is Mission Impossible. You are a great actor and your movies are very popular in China, so I hope we can have more opportunities to cooperate."

Tom Cruise smiled and said, "I also really like your movies and look forward to having the opportunity to work with you."

Zhang Ran said endlessly: "The cooperation I mentioned is not only investing in your movies, or participating in our company's movies, but also in many aspects including derivatives. The movies you star in are mainly science fiction and action movies. These movies are leading the fashion trends. Our company's derivatives are more in clothing and accessories, so we have more possibilities for cooperation than others. I heard that Prada's bag has been implanted in "Mission Impossible 4", which is a good example..."

After chatting about the possibility of cooperation for a while, Zhang Ran returned to the topic: "Tom, please come here today. In addition to talking about cooperation with you, there is another issue with the movie "Flowers of War". I wonder if you have finished reading the script, what do you think of this drama?"

Tom Cruise didn't expect Zhang Ran to come to talk to him about this matter in person. He pondered for a while and expressed his thoughts: "The script of the movie is good, but there are two things that made me hesitate. The first is that the theme of the movie is very serious, about war and massacre. Will there be a market for such a movie? You also know that in the past two years, I have encountered some troubles. I don't want my movie to lose money, which is very important to me. The second question is that Japan has always been my most important overseas market. Will shooting such a movie cause disgust among Japanese audiences?"

Zhang Ran nodded. The problem Tom Cruise said was very practical. Hollywood is cruel, and only people are not recognized. No matter how famous you were in the past, as long as your box office data in the past three years is not good, then he will not recognize it. Kevin Costner was very popular in the 1990s, but after "Future Water World" was bleak, he has never recovered. In recent years, Tom Cruise's career has been declining. At this time, a movie with serious losses will be a heavy blow to his entire career. It is completely understandable that he is more cautious in taking movies.

Zhang Ran likes to say if you have any questions, just talk if you can't agree. If you can't agree, forget it. If you can't agree, everyone wastes time for free. However, he is still confident in persuading Tomko: "First of all, our movie budget is 50 million US dollars. According to China's market size, cast, and director's appeal, I believe that the box office in China will not be less than 100 million US dollars. With your appeal, the global box office should be able to exceed 200 million. Investing 50 million will definitely not lose money, and the final box office will be 200 million US dollars."

In the last life, the box office of "The Flowers of War" in Jinling was 600 million yuan, which was about 90 million US dollars. In addition, Zhang Weiping wanted to increase his share, and was criticized by theaters when the movie was released. There were more "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" at night, and less "The Flowers of War" were ranked, otherwise the box office could reach 700 million yuan.

In this life, the Chinese film market has developed better, with more screens and larger market size. In addition, Tom Cruise has no problem with the box office exceeding $100 million.

Zhang Ran paused and saw Tom Cruise continue: "The issue about the Japanese market will definitely lose some Japanese audiences, but this proportion is very small. Spielberg once filmed "The Sun Empire". Is his movie bad in Japan? Bruce Lee beats the Japanese people in "Jingwumen", and his movies are still very popular in Japan. After filming our movie, you will win more Chinese audiences while losing a small number of Japanese fans. The Japanese population is only 100 million, and the market is very mature and the scale cannot be expanded. China has a population of 1.3 billion, which is 13 times that of Japan. The Chinese film market is increasing at a scale of 30% per year. Last year, China's total box office has reached 2.2 billion.

The US dollar will definitely surpass Japan this year and become the world's sophomore market. According to the development speed of the scene, China's market size will surpass that of the United States in five years. Chinese audiences like science fiction and action movies, and the two types are exactly what you are best at. I believe that within three to five years, China will become your largest overseas market. You also know that Chinese movies implement a quota system, with only 20 quotas. The government has the final say who to introduce and who to introduce them. If you participate in this movie, then you are a friend of the Chinese people, and you will gain a lot of convenience in introducing your movies in the future. Isn't it worth it to win the hearts of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of Chinese audiences while losing a small number of Japanese audiences?

After hearing Zhang Ran's words, Tom Cruise was a little moved. As Zhang Ran said, China has a population of 1.3 billion, and no one dares to underestimate this market. The growth rate of the Chinese film market in recent years has shocked the whole world, and Hollywood is in a stagnant state. Therefore, almost all companies are studying how to enter China.

However, China has strong restrictions on Hollywood movies, and only 20 movies can enter China. It takes a relationship to whom these 20 places are given to and whom. It is said that Disney is offending Zhang Ran, which makes it very difficult for its movies to enter China. If you take on this movie and your own movies can enter China smoothly from then on, it is definitely worth a try.

Thinking of this, Tom Cruise made a decision and did not hesitate at the moment: "I can agree, but it is too risky for me to take this movie. I want a 15 million yuan salary, plus a 5.25% global audio-visual distribution revenue for the movie, and 15% of other revenue, including box office revenue, pay TV, paid on demand, cable TV broadcasting and other channels to obtain income."

If you only pay 15 million yuan in the film, the risk of "The Flowers of War" is very small, but the risk of adding 15% of the share is relatively high. Why did Tom Cruise fall out with Paramount? It was because "Mission Impossible 3" that caused Paramount to lose. Tom Cruise made tens of millions of dollars in this film, but Paramount made 800,000 dollars. Paramount invested more than 100 million dollars and worked hard for several years, but ended up working hard. All the money was made by Tom Cruise, so he naturally quit.

A share of 15 million plus 15% is indeed expensive, but Tom Cruise is worth it. It was even more expensive in the past few years, and it was 20 million plus 20% of the share. Zhang Ran nodded and said, "Yes, then let's settle the matter first!"
Chapter completed!