Let you invest, you support half of the entertainment industry?

Cooperate with Jiaxing?

Cheng Long actually wanted to refuse at the first moment.

After all, he still has a project in hand, "Detective Pu Songling", which has been approved and is almost in talks with iQiyi.

But it was hard for him to refuse the olive branch offered by Xu Jia.

He has heard a lot about the other party's magical reputation in the Chinese film and television industry.

Apart from anything else, last year's "Wolf Warrior 2" grossed nearly one billion US dollars at the box office. Even Cheng Long was very greedy.

"If we want to cooperate, I have to make it clear first that at my age I can't play as well as before, and I'm very expensive," Cheng Long said.

He was also very entangled in his heart. If the book given by someone was really good and he wanted to take a cut in salary to participate, should he accept it or not?

He himself also knows that he is no longer the Jackie Chan he once was, he does not have such great box office appeal, and such a high salary is too low in value for money.

Now, apart from investing his own money and recruiting people to co-produce, he would rather earn more and it doesn't matter what he shoots.

No matter what reputation, in the eyes of Xiangjiang artists, it is not as important as money.

This is also the reason why Cheng Long did not last in Hollywood.

It's very simple. He tried hard to squeeze into the 20 million US dollar club. Apart from a little bit of luck, he just didn't choose the script too carefully.

After the failure of "Around the World in 80 Days", it was time to be careful in choosing scripts. After that, several movies in succession were barely able to break even, so naturally, the film's value could not be maintained.

Of course, the more objective reason is that he is old, especially as an action actor. When the audience sees him moving around on the big screen, they will only feel sympathy.

"I think if we cooperate, salary is the second most important thing. I never mistreat others financially. If you are willing to join, how about a salary of 100 million?" Xu Jia raised the corner of his mouth and raised a finger.

Even if the other party agrees, he really dares to pay this price because he is sure to use the other party to make the money back.

For Jiaxing now, there are too many channels to recover costs. Even if it loses money, there is no need to worry, it is just a matter of time.

This time it was Cheng Long's turn to hesitate, and he was also tempted by the 100 million salary.

But Xu Jia agreed to him so lightly, but it made him feel that he was suffering a loss by only receiving the salary.

Thinking of the latter's many impressive achievements, I decided to take a gamble.

"How about this? I get 50 million in salary and the rest is used as film investment. How much share can I get?" Cheng Long said.

With his net worth, he could still afford to gamble with 50 million, not to mention that this was a business that was guaranteed to make money without losing any money.

The loss was also a loss of Xu Jia's money. Furthermore, considering the latter's reputation and his face, I don't agree with losing too much.

"I estimate the cost of this project to be 130 million U.S. dollars. I'll give you a discount of 5%. Is that acceptable?" Xu Jia opened his mouth and shocked Cheng Long.

It’s not that the latter has never made major productions, but in his current situation, Xu Jia is willing to spend one billion yuan to produce a movie starring him. At least the sincerity can definitely be felt.

"It's hard to refuse your kindness. If I continue to refuse, it will be a bit unkind."

Cheng Long suppressed the joy in his heart and stretched out his hand: "I heard that Zhou Xingchi and Ben Shan are cooperating with you, and I was still thinking about why you didn't think of me, an old guy. I didn't expect that your actions would be so big. You are worthy of being the number one in China now. A major private entertainment company.”

Everyone carried the sedan chair, and Xu Jia promised to invest one billion yuan in a large-scale production, which made Cheng Long's already cheerful mood even more cheerful.

"This movie is a science fiction movie. It roughly tells the story of an NPC in a virtual game who suddenly has his own consciousness, discovers the conspiracy of the game manufacturer, and finally saves the game world he is in. Don't worry about the action, it's more about using In terms of special effects, I plan to name the movie "The Runaway Player."

"As for the director, I plan to find Sean Levy. As for the heroine, auditions will be conducted at that time. Special effects are the direction of future film development, and I think science fiction has a common understanding around the world."

What Xu Jia took out was the movie "The Runaway Player" released in 2021 in his previous life. It cost more than 130 million U.S. dollars and earned more than 300 million U.S. dollars at the box office, barely making a profit.

Given the current position he and Jiaxing are in, profit is actually secondary. What is important is whether they can use this to develop their own film industry.

Science fiction movies are a good direction. After "The Wandering Earth", this film is Jiaxing's second science fiction film and can perfectly inherit the popularity.

The reason why Brother Cheng Long was chosen to star was because of his popularity with the audience.

Globally, when everyone sees his face, at least there is no geographical distinction.

Then relying on the background of science fiction is enough to attract young people, and relying on Cheng Long's consistent reputation to attract older audiences, in short, the audience group is expanded.

Moreover, Cheng Long's influence in Asia is second to none. It is very convenient to use this film to help Jiaxing reconnect with the Asian market and the global distribution system.

It can be said that Cheng Long's role is not only to sell box office, but also to build up the reputation he has accumulated for decades.

Seeing that no one is able to take over the baton of Chinese-language films, the industry will be left in limbo, ending a generation.

Of course Xu Jia must find a way to inherit it, even a part of it can save him a lot of detours.

"I'm acting in science fiction at my age, as long as you're not afraid of me screwing up your movie."

Cheng Long instinctively rejects science fiction movies. He is more accustomed to staying in his comfort zone. Even if he changes, he will mostly focus on gangster dramas such as "Shinjuku Incident".

But the conditions Xu Jia offered were so good, with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the director Sean Levy is also a hot and well-known director in Hollywood.

He has directed the "Night at the Museum" series, which has grossed more than one billion U.S. dollars at the box office. The fantasy comedy theme is similar to the science fiction comedy of "The Runaway Player".

He has also directed action movies and is able to integrate the action that Cheng Long is good at into science fiction.

Of course, the more important thing is that this guy was the original director of "The Out-of-control Player" in his previous life, and Xu Jia originally wanted Guo Fan to film it.

The latter had just finished filming "The Wandering Earth" and happened to be able to take over.

But in this movie, Xu Jia is targeting the global market, so Shawn Levy, a Hollywood director, is much more important. This guy is a Jew. As we all know, Hollywood is a Jewish world.

Coincidentally, this director Sean was also present at the awards ceremony, but the latter was in the capacity of a producer, and his crew "Arrival" was one of the best picture nominees and was a competitor with "Parasite".

"Don't worry, brother, now that I have found you, I have a certain degree of confidence, but you will have to work harder and exercise more. There will be emotional scenes, and I don't rule out hanging on Wei Ya." Xu Jia reminded .

For Cheng Long, these are just trivial things, just to show off to Wia. He used to really fight for his life while filming.