China Entertainment Mythology 2004

Chapter 26 Purchase Copyright
It's not that Liu Cixin hadn't thought about winning the Hugo Award before, but it was just a wild idea before, just like a lottery fantasizing about winning a million-dollar prize. It became hot immediately.

That's right, it's not that he hasn't read the Hugo Award-winning works. In terms of level, he is definitely good enough!

A few months ago, he encouraged Li Mu to bravely take the first step in writing. Now that Li Mu is aiming for the Hugo Award, he is timid?

This will not work!

"You're right, the winning works of the Hugo Awards are the same thing. If others can get it, we can get it. This time when I go back, I will plan an article carefully, no matter who gets it in the end. This award is a good thing for the Chinese science fiction community."

Li Mu shook his head and said, "It's still wrong."

Liu Cixin was stunned for a moment: "What's wrong?"

Li Mu said with a smile: "It's not who the two of us will win the Hugo Award, but both of us will definitely win the Hugo Award. The difference is just a matter of sooner or later. What I just said depends on who of the two of us can win the Hugo 'first' Awards, not to see who 'can' win the Hugo Award."

Many editors in the private room were taken aback when they heard this.

Everyone thought that Li Mu's appetite was big enough, but now it seems that everyone still underestimated Li Mu's appetite.

See what he said just now?

"It's not that either of us will win the Hugo Award, but that both of us will definitely win the Hugo Award!"

Hear what it says.

I really think of the Hugo Award as a corner award.

Liu Cixin's heart suddenly became fiery, and he even had a faint urge to sit in front of the computer and create.

Then Li Mu said: "The problem with science fiction is that the circle is too small and closed. If science fiction writers want to break through the ceiling, they must find a way to break through the circle and find a way to let people who are not in the science fiction circle know about your works. What I just said takes The Hugo Award is just one of the ways to break the circle, in fact, there are still some other ways to break the circle.”

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Li Mu continued: "For example, film and television adaptations, let's take Brother Liu as an example. If Brother Liu's work "The Wandering Earth" is adapted into a movie tomorrow, the box office will sell for 20 million. Audiences all over the country are discussing "The Wandering Earth" enthusiastically, and its popularity even exceeds that of "Hero" directed by Zhang Yimou, becoming a truly phenomenal movie. Then do you think Liu Ge's novels will break through the shackles of the sci-fi circle in the future? Will novel sales reach 50, 100, [-], or even [-] million?"

"Of course it's possible!" Li Mu said firmly.

"So, film and television adaptations can also help science fiction writers break the circle."

Liu Cixin sighed and said: "If the film and television adaptation is a big success, of course it will help the writer break the circle, but the film and television adaptation is not so easy, let alone let my work be adapted successfully and have more influence than "Hero", it is just that it can be normal after the adaptation. It’s released, and even if someone is willing to adapt it, I’ll be thankful.”

Li Muxin said this.

Because he knew that Liu Cixin would sell the film and television copyright of his novel "Three-Body Problem" for a mere 10 yuan, and the couple who bought the copyright of "Three-Body Problem" sold it for 1.2 million yuan a few years later.

At that time, "The Three-Body Problem" was already Liu Cixin's best-selling work, and it still only sold 10 yuan.

The best works were sold at a low price of 10 film and television copyrights, which is enough to show how low Liu Cixin's expectations were at that time.

However, Liu Cixin has low expectations for the film and television copyright value of his works, which is just a good thing for Li Mu.

So he said: "Brother Liu, you have to believe me. I know movies. In August 04, Cheng Long went to the Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang to film. It happened that my parents worked in the museum. I had the opportunity to meet Cheng Long, so I figured it out. I wrote a script based on Cheng Long's preferences, and it turned out that Cheng Long really didn't like it."

"In the end, the film was jointly invested by Cheng Long and Xiying Film Studio, with an investment of nearly 6000 million. I acted as the assistant director and screenwriter, and my uncle was in charge of the editing and had the final editing rights. Now this film is already in the post-production stage."

"What I mean by this is that since I said Brother Liu's novel is suitable for being adapted into a movie, I wouldn't be aimless, but there must be a reason for me to say so."

"The investment in science fiction movies is generally very large. Judging from the current number of screens, the number of theaters, and the overall market situation in China, it is indeed not suitable to shoot science fiction movies that are afraid of huge costs at this stage, but the domestic movie market will definitely grow. Sooner or later, the domestic film market will be prosperous enough to accommodate these big-investment sci-fi films, and I always firmly believe that this is only a matter of time."

"Once the conditions are ripe in the future, I will definitely invest in China's own science fiction blockbusters, and Liu Ge's science fiction novels are very suitable for adaptation in my eyes."

Liu Cixin was silent.

On the one hand, Li Mu's words made him very useful, and on the other hand, he felt that Li Mu was exaggerating.

He said that he was optimistic about his science fiction novels, and he also said that his science fiction novels were suitable for adaptation into movies, but would he buy the film and television copyrights of his science fiction novels with real money?
Most likely not.

Therefore, the so-called optimistic is actually just talking.

At this time, I heard Li Mu say: "I don't have any money for the time being, otherwise I will definitely buy the film and television copyright of Brother Liu's novel as soon as possible."

Liu Cixin thought to himself: "Sure enough, otherwise it means definitely not, and the meaning of being optimistic is just talking."

Then I heard Li Mu say: "But it's all right now, "The Hunger Games" is selling well in the United States, and I expect that within a few months, I will have money inflows, but I don't know if I want to use this money to buy Brother Liu. As for the film and television copyright of the novel, will Brother Liu sell it?"

"You really want to buy it?" Liu Cixin was really surprised.

Li Mu nodded.

"I want to choose two works from Brother Liu's novels first. As for the price of the copyright..."

Li Mu thought about it, and finally came up with a price that he thought Liu Cixin could accept, and that would not deviate too much from the current market.

"How about 30? Buy two first, 30 each."

30 is almost the current price ceiling for adapting scripts. In August, Cheng Long saw that he could use Li Mu's father's affection, so he paid 8 for the script of "Taken".

In fact, from the perspective of future generations, it is also appropriate to buy the copyright of Da Liu's works at a price of 50 copies, but Li Mu feels that there is no need to buy the copyright at a price much higher than the current market price.

Sometimes if you bid too high, it will make the other party feel guilty and wonder what kind of medicine you are selling in your gourd.

Now buy the copyright at a price that does not exceed the highest price in the market. After the copyright price skyrockets in the future, Liu Cixin will definitely feel that he has lost money. At that time, Li Mu can completely ask Liu Cixin to be a consultant for his own film, and share part of Liu Cixin's income through the consulting fee , and when the time comes, he can use this to ask Liu Cixin to help promote the film, so it may not be a loss if he distributes some of the benefits.

But what Li Mu didn't expect was that when he said the price of 30 each, the atmosphere in the whole private room was different.

Everyone looked at Liu Cixin with envy in his eyes.

30 for each, and 60 for two.

60 is really a huge sum of money for this era, especially for science fiction writers of this era.

Seeing that Li Mu didn't seem to be joking, Liu Cixin immediately agreed.

"Which two do you want to buy?"

Li Mu thought for a while and said, "The Wandering Earth" and "The Rural Teacher."

Liu Cixin nodded and said, "Okay."

(End of this chapter)