The Four Seasons Hotel in Cannes on Boulevard de la Croisette was the hotel where Sony Pictures Classics rented office suites. Cannes has countless hotels, and many film companies rent suites as temporary offices.
For example, Capet Pictures is located in the Ritz-Carlton on Boulevard de la Croisette.
At the Four Seasons Hotel, Sony arranged a small ball, which Charles Capet naturally attended. After all, he wanted to see how much Sony Pictures Classics would offer to buy the North American distribution rights for house of flying daggers.
"Philip, later you will talk to the person in charge of New Picture Film Company. Capet Pictures can offer a maximum of 15 million for the North American rights to house of flying daggers!" Charles Capet whispered to Philip beside him.
"A maximum of 15 million US dollars!" Philip was stunned for a moment, then nodded. Hero earned hundreds of millions of dollars in markets outside North America. Excluding the approximately 30 million US dollars from the Mainland China market, other markets also contributed nearly 90 million US dollars.
Hero's North American release should not be less than 30 million US dollars. Miramax certainly made a comfortable profit this time.
In terms of quality and actress recognition, house of flying daggers is definitely not comparable to Hero, but offering 15 million US dollars for the North American market definitely shows sincerity.
"If Sony Pictures Classics over there..."
"Then give up and let Sony Pictures Classics have it. 15 million US dollars is the highest price, no more," Charles Capet knew what Philip was going to say and preemptively reminded him.
"I received information that Sony has already purchased the Japanese distribution rights for that movie for 9 million US dollars!"
"Forget it, Philip, 14 million US dollars. Capet Pictures will offer a maximum of 14 million US dollars," Charles Capet was still worried that Sony would not follow suit. He remembered that the North American and Japanese rights for house of flying daggers seemed to have sold for over 200 million RMB.
According to the current exchange rate, that should be less than 25 million US dollars combined!
house of flying daggers doesn't have Jet Li, and the action scenes aren't particularly exciting. The DVD market is probably not very good. If Capet Pictures actually buys it, it will definitely lose money!
"Understood!" Philip nodded and then left.
Afterward, Charles Capet chatted with director Zhang Yimou, who was also attending the dinner.
"Mainland China's film market is expanding. This can be seen from the opening up to foreign investment in cinemas. With economic development, more and more people will go to cinemas to watch movies," Zhang Yimou introduced.
Charles Capet nodded and smiled, "I've researched this myself. Now Mainland China allows foreign investment to establish cinemas in the Mainland China market, holding a maximum of 49% of the shares."
Of course, in film distribution, foreign investment will certainly not be allowed, and cinema chains are out of the question. They can only co-manage cinemas with local enterprises.
Co-productions, revenue-sharing films, and flat-fee import films each have their own operating methods. Currently, co-productions are rare, revenue-sharing film quotas are only 20, the revenue-sharing ratio is not high, and the Mainland China film market is still small.
Soon, Chinese film companies specializing in the flat-fee import film business will enter the market, as the price for buying foreign flat-fee import films is very cheap now, often bought in packages.
"Charles Capet, are you interested in investing in Mainland China? Now Mainland China has many preferential policies for foreign investment," Zhang Yimou smiled again.
Charles Capet nodded, "I have this idea. I am very confident in the future of the Mainland China film market!"
Suddenly, a shout of "Zhang" came over, and Harvey Weinstein and Quentin Tarantino appeared together.
"Harvey, good evening!" Zhang Yimou also shook hands with the big man Harvey Weinstein.
"Charles Capet, good evening, congratulations! Capet Pictures, because of you, has also carved out a place for itself in the independent film industry!" Harvey Weinstein said to Charles Capet like an elder.
"Good evening, Harvey, independent film has you as its greatest guarantee!" Charles Capet also shook his hand and praised him, enduring the disgust.
"Charles Capet, can you let me and Zhang talk for a bit?"
Charles Capet nodded and went to the other side with Quentin Tarantino.
"Zhang, our last collaboration was good. The North American distribution rights for house of flying daggers can definitely be entrusted to Miramax again. The release date for Hero has been set for August!" Harvey Weinstein hoped to first persuade Director Zhang, and thereby obtain the North American distribution rights for house of flying daggers.
"Mr. Weinstein, the film's distribution rights are not mine to decide who to sell to. It's the company's head who decides who to sell to. I am the director!"
"No, Zhang, is it because of the North American distribution issue of the previous film, Hero? That was because we had to avoid conflicts with other films' release schedules, so we had to postpone its release until the second half of this year," Harvey Weinstein continued to explain.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Charles Capet chatted with Hollywood's maverick director, Quentin Tarantino.
"Charles Capet, is Capet Pictures also here for the North American distribution of this film, house of flying daggers?"
Charles Capet smiled. Quentin Tarantino's appearance had a very abstract artistic sense. "This year, there really aren't many commercial films with distribution rights for sale at the entire Cannes Film Festival. house of flying daggers just happens to be one of the anticipated ones."
"No, no, no, there's at least one more, and that's the documentary fahrenheit 9, which has already been selected for the main competition unit, competing for the palme d'or," Quentin Tarantino shook his head and explained.
Charles Capet took a sip from his glass, glanced at Harvey Weinstein, who was spitting excitedly on the other side, then smiled calmly and said, "Why doesn't Miramax distribute fahrenheit 9 itself? After all, it's an independent label under Disney?"
Quentin Tarantino smiled and also took a sip from his glass. As the chairman of the jury for this Cannes Film Festival, fahrenheit 9 was very likely to win the palme d'or, the highest award at Cannes.
At that time, the domestic market in the United States would face an additional layer of pressure. A film that won the Cannes palme d'or actually couldn't be screened in the United States?
"Excuse me, I'm going to the restroom," Charles Capet didn't have much affection for this guy either, who still wanted to trick him into distributing fahrenheit 9. Idiot!
He had only walked a few steps when a Lady from the side accidentally bumped into Charles Capet, and some of the drink in her hand spilled on Charles Capet.
"Sir, I'm sorry!"
Charles Capet suppressed his temper, looked at the wet patch on his chest, and then looked at the Lady in front of him who was wiping him with a tissue.
"It's okay, it's okay!" He took the tissue from her hand and started wiping himself.
"Shall I take you to change?" the Lady asked.
"Hmm, go ahead, it's really uncomfortable," Charles Capet didn't pay too much attention to the Lady.
"Hello, I'm Marion Cotillard, a French actress," Marion Cotillard, who was leading the way, said as she walked.
"Marion Cotillard!"