The next morning, Delong arrived at Sandsea Entertainment promptly at the agreed-upon time.
Looking at the simple office space, he felt a bit nostalgic. Last time, it was Ronan Anderson who had taken the initiative to invite him. This time, however, he had taken the initiative to come.
The change in roles was indeed swift.
"Hello, Ronan," he greeted as he saw the young producer coming out to greet him. "Here we are again."
Ronan shook hands in response and led him into the office, saying with a smile, "Please, have a seat."
Delong sat down and observed quietly. From the surface, this young man hadn't changed at all since their last meeting. It seemed like the success of "The Purge" at the box office hadn't affected him much.
"Ronan, congratulations on the success of 'The Purge,'" he said.
"Thank you," Ronan replied, gesturing for coffee to be brought in.
Delong didn't beat around the bush either. As a prominent figure in New Line Cinema, he directly asked, "I heard that the overseas distribution rights for 'The Purge' are still in your hands?"
Ronan continued to smile and said, "Yes, Lionsgate doesn't have overseas distribution capabilities."
Delong nodded. "How about letting New Line Cinema handle the overseas distribution?"
Ronan replied with a targeted tone, "I also hope to cooperate with New Line Cinema."
"Eight million dollars," Delong tentatively proposed, "Sony Pictures buys out the overseas rights for 'The Purge.'"
To a certain extent, his thinking was still influenced by the success of "Gravity."
"Pardon me for being blunt," Ronan said with a smile still on his face, "but your company lacks sincerity in cooperation."
Delong's expression remained unchanged. As an experienced negotiator, he had heard such words too many times to be affected. He immediately responded, "Ronan, we've had a successful collaboration before, and we trust each other. That's something other companies can't offer."
Ronan could only sigh inwardly at how shameless businessmen could be. Last time they talked about the North American distribution rights, no one mentioned these things.
"Sony Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Demons Entertainment, and Universal Pictures," Ronan said, half-truthfully, "have all contacted me, wanting the overseas rights to 'The Purge.' But I met with New Line Cinema first because we have a basis for cooperation."
He added casually, "I'm very sincere."
Delong understood that the words he had just spoken didn't mean much. He said, "Ronan, let's set a price. New Line Cinema wants to buy out the overseas rights in one go."
Ronan smiled and said, "Forty million dollars."
"What?" Delong was astonished. "The Purge' isn't worth that much!"
Is this your idea of sincerity? Have you lost your sense of shame?
Calmly, Ronan said, "This is for the one-time sale of the full international rights."
The price was far higher than the psychological price given by his superiors, and Delong couldn't agree to it immediately. He said, "Ten million dollars! Including the rights to the sequel!"
"I can't agree to that," Ronan said.
With such a wide gap in their mental prices, the preliminary negotiation ended without reaching an agreement.
Ronan, of course, wouldn't be stuck on the unreliable offer from New Line Cinema. In recent years, it had become common knowledge that the overseas box office of Hollywood films often exceeded the domestic box office. Apart from New Line Cinema, other distribution companies had also contacted him.
In the afternoon, Chris from Sony Pictures personally visited to discuss the distribution of "The Purge."
It was a meeting arranged two days ago.
"Forty million dollars is too much," Chris said very clearly. He knew that, given the current box office trend of "The Purge," he was already at a disadvantage. Finding an overseas distributor for such a film was not a problem at all. He slowly said, "I think fifteen million dollars is a fair price."
Ronan smiled and said, "This morning, in this office, Mr. Delong of New Line Cinema offered twenty million dollars and was rejected by me."
Hearing this, Chris frowned. Before coming, Sony Pictures had estimated the potential overseas income of this film, which was far higher than twenty million dollars, but no one had come out to reveal their bottom line so quickly.
To be honest, the negotiation for the North American distribution rights had fallen through, and now he had to take the initiative to pursue the overseas distribution rights. It was a bit embarrassing, but in the face of commercial interests, these things didn't matter.
Life at Sony Pictures wasn't easy, especially for Columbia Pictures. This year, it might end up as Hollywood's sixth-largest.
The sixth among the Big Six.
"Twenty million dollars will be difficult for us to profit from," Chris said.
Is this just trying to fool me? Ronan thought with a cold smile, but kept talking, "The expected North American box office for 'The Purge' will definitely exceed fifty million dollars. In recent years, films with a North American box office of over thirty million dollars have generally had overseas box office higher than domestic, and this is a full rights deal. The offline income of the film will not be less than that of the theaters. With Sony Pictures' channels and distribution capabilities, making a profit will be easy."
Chris looked very troubled and hesitated for a long time before saying, "Twenty million dollars is my maximum authority."
How could Ronan believe such nonsense? But he also knew that his initial asking price of forty million dollars was too high. "Thirty million dollars," he said.
Chris was about to refute, but Ronan cut in, "Let me finish. This isn't just a fee for the international rights of 'The Purge' but for two movies!"
"Two movies?" Chris frowned. What other films had Sandsea Entertainment produced?
Ronan looked quite generous. "The overseas distribution rights for 'Gravity,' produced by Sandsea Entertainment, are still available. For thirty million dollars, Sandsea Entertainment will sell the international rights for these two films to your company in one go. We're very sincere about this cooperation."
Looking at Ronan, Chris could see the expression that clearly said, "You've just struck a great deal."
"What kind of movie is 'Gravity'? Chris vaguely heard of it, but its North American box office was only $800,000."
Ronan said with a straight face, "Actually, this movie is not bad. With good marketing, it's not a problem to generate millions or even tens of millions of dollars in overseas revenue."
"If this flop can sell for tens of millions of dollars, I'll change my last name to RB!" Chris couldn't help but mutter.
Ronan spread his hands and said, "The overseas rights for both films are bundled together for just $30 million, which is not high at all."
Chris restrained the urge to stand up and walk away, saying, "Sony Pictures only wants 'The Purge'."
"That overseas rights for 'Gravity' will stay with you forever," Ronan replied sincerely. "Sorry," he added, "but these two films are being sold as a package by ShaHai Entertainment."
With the bulk of the North American revenue from 'The Purge' being taken by the distributor, there wasn't much hope for earnings from overseas. Selling the rights as a package deal could effectively dilute the profits of 'The Purge', thus reducing the share given to investors.
Can a company that doesn't cheat its investors be considered a good company?
ShaHai Entertainment wasn't the first Hollywood company to engage in this kind of bundled sales, nor would it be the last.
A typical example was the previous life's China Film Company, which, when importing a hot film, would always be forced to purchase several flops. At that time, theaters would often show long-released North American flops, which were often forcibly included in film packages.
But this inclusion wasn't free; it required real money.
For film companies, such inclusions not only helped recoup funds but also effectively diluted the profits of profitable films.
In Hollywood, which increasingly relies on financing for production, low profit margins for films are often not a bad thing.
'The Purge' was also financed by financing.
However, Ronan had a next step plan. He couldn't be as shady as many of the big companies in Hollywood.
The initial negotiations didn't reach a consensus, and in the following week, Ronan spoke with representatives from Emperor Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Meanwhile, they kept in touch with Sony Pictures. After 'The Purge' crossed the $40 million mark in North American box office, they finally signed an overseas distribution agreement with Sony Pictures.
Sony Pictures paid $25 million to buy out the overseas distribution rights for both 'Gravity' and 'The Purge', from online to offline.