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Let the offers fly from US film studios

By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-31 08:09

BEIJING - Hollywood wants to buy the remake rights for a Chinese mainland blockbuster, with offers exceeding $10 million, the producer of Let the Bullets Fly, said.

Ma Ke, who produced director Jiang Wen's latest work, told China Daily that three Hollywood studios had approached him.

"Some of the studios are in Hollywood's top six," he said in an interview. "Some even offered a price of more than $10 million."

If the deal is struck, the film will be the first mainland movie to be made into a Hollywood version.

According to Ma, the studios still want Jiang to direct the film that depicts a struggle between a modern-day Robin Hood, a cheater and a town bully.

The film has rapidly grossed more than 400 million yuan ($58 million) in two weeks after its premiere on Dec 16.

"The studios like it as a good story, relevant to a global audience," he said.

The film has won widespread critical and public acclaim for its witty script, plotline, sharp social observances and outstanding performances.

But the tempting offer has not yet persuaded Ma.

"It is now impractical for us to spare enough time to talk about a possible deal - we are very much engaged in working on the domestic box office," he said. "We will probably sit down with Hollywood to talk about it around early February."

Any possible deal would not just be about pure business, Ma said, adding it would also have to have a wider significance for Chinese cinema. Besides, he is in no rush.

"We want studios that own a strong global distribution network, and can rally top actors," he said.

"If the English version of Bullets is screened in mainstream theaters in North America and Europe as a real blockbuster, that would be a giant leap."

In 2006, Martin Scorsese remade Hong Kong director Andrew Lau's crime-thriller Infernal Affairs into The Departed, which won four Academy Awards. But so far no mainland director's film has been made into a Hollywood version.

An actor-turned director, Jiang has made only four films in 17 years, but each of them caused a stir among viewers and critics, notably for their strong character portrayals, lavish visuals and wild imagination.

His 1994 work, In the Heat of the Sun, was named one of the century's 100 best Chinese films by Asia Weekly Magazine.

In 2008 Jiang directed the first segment of New York, I Love You, a romantic film by an ensemble of 11 internationally acclaimed filmmakers, each of whom directed a 10-minute part.

However, a senior industry insider, requesting anonymity, suggested that offers in the range of $10 million were on the high side.

"Personally I don't think $10 million is a reasonable price for Hollywood to buy the remake rights of a Chinese film," said the veteran Chinese producer who has 20 years' experience in the film industry, and worked with top Hollywood studios Warner Brothers and Walt Disney. "You can take the price of the remake rights for Infernal Affairs as a reference, and that was around $1.75 million.

"The average cost for a middle-budget Hollywood studio movie is around $50 million," he explained. "To spend $10 million purely on getting the remake rights seems too much."