I Know Everything - Chapter 621
Chapter 621: Blinded.
Chen Huan finalized their contract with Todd while shooting his commercial.
The main party of the contract was under the name of Fengxiang Film.
Chen Huan already transferred to him the first 10 million to make the initial preparation.
The second batch of funds, 20 million, would be given when the film crew officially started working.
The third batch of funds, 20 million also, would be given when the film crew was about to wrap up the production.
If more funds needed to be added, Todd must discuss with Chen Huan a month in advance.
Chen Huan didn’t arrange anybody to oversee the film crew.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t vigilant but this movie was the treasured work of Todd and he was the one who wanted to make it better than everything else.
With a mentality like that, Todd certainly didn’t have the mind to engage in any activity that would cheat money away.
For Todd, the success of the movie was certainly more important than cheating ten or twenty million dollars away.
So Chen Huan was good as long as he could monitor the finances at any time. For that, Todd would write the details online for Chen Huan to check at any time.
Chen Huan also knew that ‘Joker’ would gross over 1 billion dollars at the box office so it didn’t matter to spend a little in order to make money.
However, Chen Huan didn’t treat Todd badly as he gave him 5% of the box office share.
Todd would get 50 million dollars if the movie grossed over a billion dollars, which was indeed what he deserved.
Todd didn’t give in vain the rights to ‘Joker’ to Chen Huan.
Although they would need Warner’s authorization if they wanted to film a sequel, Chen Huan still had a very good IP in his hand.
Right.
Warner Bros. only agreed to Todd Phillips’ plan for this ‘Joker’ and the sequels would be discussed later.
This showed that companies in Hollywood were definitely not stupid.
It was impossible for them to sell their future for immediate benefit.
Even when Todd gave them a high offer.
Warner wasn’t very optimistic about the Joker project but it didn’t stop them from letting Todd and Chen Huan give it a try.
They would immediately follow it up if it was successful.
If it didn’t do well, the project was financed by Fengxiang Films and they were only responsible for the distribution anyway.
They considered the matter for a few days and decided to make concessions in order to encourage Todd to make a better movie.
After they took 20 million in copyrights fee, they gave up the box office share and reduced it to 12% for the share to promote the movie.
12% were very generous.
After all, releasing the movie to 1,000 screens, promoting the movie etc… weren’t cheap.
From this, they could guess what Warner estimated the movie would gross at the box-office.
They guessed it was around 120 to 150 million dollars.
Chen Huan felt like laughing when he received the offer.
He wondered whether they would hate themselves when they saw that ‘Joker’ would make ten times that amount.
Right, they also offered another good price for the subsequent profit from the movie.
They were willing to give up their 30% for 30 million.
This showed that Warner still had a favorite estimate of the profit post box office.
Chen Huan didn’t know how much Joker made aside from the big screen but it was definitely higher than 100 million.
So Chen Huan agreed to pay 50 million dollars in cash for all of it.
The money would also be paid in three times. The first 10 million would be paid after signing the contract, 20 million when the shooting wrapped up and another 20 million when the movie was about to be released.
It had to be said that Americans were the peak progress in installment payment.
It didn’t have to be a one time payment. Maybe Warner would even be scared if he suddenly paid 50 million in one time.
It just so happened that the four brands that asked Chen Huan to endorse them gave him 20 million dollars so he directly gave the money to Todd and Warner.
Taxes in the US were based on income but Chen Huan already spent the money, which would naturally reduce the tax and could be considered a form of tax evasion.
…
Todd was a determined man as he spared no effort for Joker.
He not only sought an outsider like Chen Huan but also gave away so many copyrights.
So he must make this movie a success.
In order to achieve this goal, Todd, after obtaining Chen Huan’s consent, posted a picture of him and Chen Huan on his social media.
“My script ‘Joker’ got one of the best investors! 100 million dollars invested in the movie represents the trust Mr. Chen Huan has in the movie and me! I will never betray Mr. Chen’s trust in me! Everyone, look forward to our new project!”
He did this purely for advertising.
Joaquin Phoenix already saw the script and thought it wasn’t bad, and would like to interpret such a complicated character.
He would agree to take on the role as long as Warner agreed.
Joaquin already signed the contract after they received Warner’s agreement and the investment.
Joaquin’s salary wasn’t high, only 4.5 million dollars.
Marvel actually wanted him to play Doctor Strange for 20 million per movie but it had to be in 5 movies at least but Joaquin refused it.
This guy was really an actor with character, just like his brother.
But it wasn’t enough for the movie to only have a male lead and the female lead, the supporting actors needed to be skilled enough to bring the sadness and the change in the Joker so they could be the backbone of the movie.
So Todd used Chen Huan’s current fame and pointed at the 100 million dollars investment to attract well-known actors to join the cast.
What Chen Huan didn’t expect was Nicholson to call him and tell him that he would take on any role in the movie for free if Chen Huan agreed to play for the Lakers for another season.
This old man had real love!
Chen Huan was moved by his actions but refused it.
These two couldn’t be linked. His decision was his own and the movie was his own too.
Wang Zhen reacted quickly when she saw Todd posting the pictures so she quickly posted the picture of him and Chen Huan in the Villa, on Pomelo and her Weibo accounts.
The one posted by Todd was with Chen Huan in a suit taking a picture with him while holding a contract.
Wang Zhen had the more casual picture with it picked during the negotiation.
The bored netizens couldn’t hold themselves back anymore after seeing the pictures.
“Wow, it really seems that you can get in and out of Chen Huan’s house at will! Did our goddess get conquered just like that?”
“Beauty Wang, what did they say during the negotiation? Tell us!”
“Did Sister Xiaofeng go mad? Why did he invest in a movie like that? We know what type of movie it is from the name alone, how can it be shown in our country?”
“Exactly! It wasn’t easy for Sister Xiaofeng to earn so much money but you’re already giving it back to the Americans?”
“Why do you guys care so much? Was him solving Fermat’s Theorem fake? Do you think a genius is going to get fooled?”
“So what even if he lost the money? He can get 30 million dollars from Adidas every year, he could make that money back in a few years!”