text | Linghu Boguang
Netflix's "The Three-Body Problem" was officially launched today. I haven't watched it yet because it was previously previewed that Ye Wenjie and Evans are in love, Yang Dong is Evans' daughter, and Cheng Xin is in love with Zhang Beihai, a white man. It’s so hurtful to wait. I saw a comment on Netflix, why Liu Cixin didn’t learn from JK Rowling, like the adaptation of "Harry Potter", it has to have a British lead and a white guy or something.
The answer is only one thing, the copyright issue. The copyright for the film and television adaptation of " three-body " is not in Liu Cixin's hands.
Many netizens may be vaguely aware of this matter (especially fans), but the specific process is not clear, and many netizens have not even understood it. Today I will briefly summarize the copyright and adaptation process of "The Three-Body Problem".
The rights to adapt "The Three-Body Problem" prove that Liu Cixin understands science fiction and does not understand science fiction.
The process of selling copyrights is nothing to write about. Anyone who has a little knowledge of it will know it. "Three-Body Problem 1" was published in 2007, and "Three-Body Problem 3" was published in 2010. "The Three-Body Problem" is very popular now, but Chinese science fiction is still a small circle now, let alone back then.
At that time, the remuneration for Chinese science fiction novels was very low. According to online rumors, in 1999, "The Wandering Earth" won the China Science Fiction Galaxy Special Prize, with a bonus of only 2,000 yuan.
Around 2009, "The Three-Body Problem" was already very popular in the Chinese science fiction circle. It was rumored that Zhang Fanfan's wife Song Chunli saw the value of "The Three-Body Problem". Because Zhang Fanfan was the director, the couple decided to Purchased the rights to "The Three-Body Problem" to make a movie. After many negotiations, Liu Cixin said in an interview that if he didn’t sell the copyright at that time, he might never be able to sell it. So Zhang Fanfan and his wife purchased the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem" for 100,000 yuan.
I believe everyone knows what was going on in the Chinese film and television industry at that time. Even now, after experiencing the baptism of two " The Wandering Earth " and "The Three-Body Problem", are you looking at 2024? Are there many science fiction film and television dramas in China? Fire? How does it compare with the idol star film and television drama, Jia Ling weight loss movie?
The filming conditions for "The Three-Body Problem" were too harsh. The investment in a single film must be more than 200 million, and if there is a contract, the film must be directed by oneself.
Nowadays, many netizens are scolding Youzu. In fact, Youzu was wronged. In fact, it was Zhang Fanfan who bought the copyright from Da Liu, not Youzu (a small director who has only made two horror films with failing ratings) , and then insisted on letting him go. Anyone who wants to cooperate with him must let him be the director (I guess he wants to be famous). Some of the companies he talked to before were not optimistic about him, so he did not agree to this cooperation condition.
Later, Youzu became too optimistic about this IP. It was rumored that in November 2014, Youzu boss Lin Qi bought the copyright of "Three-Body" for 120 million, and cooperated with Zhang Fanfan to develop the "Three-Body" universe. The investment was the first A movie version complies with Zhang Fanfan's request.
The one we know now Zhang Jingchu , Feng Shaofeng The movie version of "The Three-Body Problem" came out. Many fans will probably know this later, but we can only say that "The Three-Body Problem" is gold in the beach and cannot be buried.
"The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award in 2015, just like Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize. It was sold back to China and became popular (many domestic literature and art still have this flavor). Then "The Three-Body Problem" became more and more popular, and its fan level It’s too high, not just for the elite, but also for top bosses at home and abroad like President Obama. Of course,
is also available in China. Rumor has it that a big boss in China inspected the material and this version was shot.
I don’t know the specifics, but anyway, this movie version of "The Three-Body Problem" has been suppressed until now (at that time, a version of the behind-the-scenes and some stills were released), Zhang Fanfan didn’t have that level and insisted on directing it himself, Zhang Fanfan The material that was shot could not be seen by anyone at all, so YOOZOO’s initial investment was wasted.
ps: There was also Yoozoo CEO Lin Qi in the middle. Xu Yao, the legal manager, negotiated with Zhang Fanfan. The Zhangs were eliminated and Xu Yao became the CEO. However, Xu Yao’s progress in “Three-Body” was too slow and the capital consumption was huge. In anger, Lin Qi cut Xu Yao's annual salary from 20 million to 4 to 5 million (there is another saying that it is 510,000). As a result, Xu Yao poisoned Lin Qi.
animated version, Netflix version, TV series version? It's very simple to clarify the adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem"
I guess Zhang Fanfan finally gave up, and Youzu didn't dare to direct him anymore. Later, he probably reached an agreement with Zhang Fanfan and bought it completely from Zhang Fanfan. Subsequent adaptation rights were obtained, so the Netflix version, Tencent TV version, and the animated version of Yihua Kaitian directed by others appeared.
Youzu still attaches great importance to the "Three Body" IP (it's okay not to pay attention to it, it is also the biggest money tree).
They have established a brand called "Three-Body Universe" specifically for the IP "Three-Body Problem". If you pay attention to the animated version, TV series version, and Netflix version, you will find that the title production company has it (that is, the copyright owner), and the animation version , TV, Netflix producers are others.
Probably YOOZOO published the copyright for "Three-Body", but it has no production capabilities of its own, so it seeks external investment and cooperation in production. Cooperation is often another capital (investment, distribution and promotion) + producer (actual work).
Therefore, the "Three-Body" animation is three-body universe (copyright) + Bilibili (cooperation capital) + Yihua Kaitian (producer).
The TV series version of "The Three-Body Problem" is the product of the Three-Body Universe (copyright) + Penguin (platform capital) + Linghe Culture (producer)
The Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is the product of the Three-Body Universe (copyright) + Netflix (the platform capital) + Game of Thrones producer
Strictly speaking, Youzu is still serious about the film and television adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem". At least the fan-made animation "My Three-Body Problem" did not die in the second and third seasons. With Yoozoo's investment, the production level has been greatly improved, and most fans are very satisfied.
As for you saying that the animated version doesn’t work, and the Netflix version doesn’t seem to work, what can you say? If you look at it from the perspective of the film and television industry, it is already the top platform and producer available at home and abroad. Another domestic animation platform is Penguin Animation, but from the animation studio, which science fiction animation is as good as "Spirit Cage" in quality?
As a result, I didn’t expect that Yihua Kaitian could do that, and the whole production process was very confusing (I won’t go into details here, you can search it if you are interested).
cooperated with Netflix. In fact, the cooperation specifications are already top-notch. "The Three-Body Problem" is one of the most expensive drama projects in Netflix's history. The total investment of the 8-episode "The Three-Body Problem" is about 160 million US dollars, with an average The budget for each episode is as high as about 144 million yuan. The total investment of Goose Factory's 30-episode series is not as much as what other people spend on one episode. The producer
is actually top-notch. No matter how bad "Game of Thrones" is, it is indeed a top-notch American drama.
can only say that there is another problem: is it produced by Chinese people and adapted completely according to the American-centered system? This cooperation is not like Koreans. In South Korea, Netflix only invests. The director, screenwriter, actors, and entire team are all Koreans, and then they put it on Netflix. But the situation in China and South Korea is completely different.
There is no Netflix platform in China. Let’s talk about the current relationship between China and the United States. It seems impossible for the United States to invest only in remaking a work entirely with a Chinese team, and then broadcast it all over the world on a platform that is not even available in China.
For various reasons, Netflix will not consider the Chinese market, so don’t have high hopes for casting and Chinese content from the beginning, and don’t have high hopes for the entire TV series. The only hope is that the domestic film and television industry will be brave enough to make a better version of "The Three-Body Problem" after Netflix, especially the TV series version of "The Three-Body Problem".
What will happen to the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem"? Helpful, but not very effective.
This helpful means that it is helpful in promoting and promoting the "Three-Body" IP around the world. This is also why "Three-Body" and many Chinese IPs, a bunch of Chinese netizens wanted to let the United States The reason why people take pictures is, firstly, their high industrial level, and secondly, their cultural soft power is really strong and can be released globally.
China currently lacks these two capabilities, but if you ask Americans to promote Chinese culture to you Chinese people, you are forcing it.
Although the original work "The Three-Body Problem" is very popular, after all, the current culture is not the era of novel communication but images (all short videos). If it is online on Netflix, it will be online in hundreds of countries around the world. The publicity will definitely spread the word and drive people to go there. Reading the original work is definitely a good thing.
Netflix owns the film and television drama copyright of "The Three-Body Problem", which was purchased through formal channels. Whether there will be a sequel to
depends on its commercial performance. If it succeeds, it may be filmed, but if it is unsuccessful, it may not be filmed. At that time, domestic competition will be unavoidable, and the Chinese audience will have no choice but to endure it.
Finally, the film and television rights of "The Three-Body Problem" are not in the hands of Liu. There is a profound reason why Liu sold the film and television rights of "The Three-Body Problem" at a low price. It is also related to the fact that Liu did not know much about film and television copyrights at the time. Many Chinese authors have suffered from this disadvantage. For example, "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" also sold for 100,000 yuan.
For example, Mr. Jin Yong, who passed away, always authorized the copyright of his novels for a certain number of years, such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". If you get the authorization from him, you must publish the movie or TV series within a few years. Photograph it, otherwise the copyright will be automatically invalidated once the time limit is up, and this time limit generally does not exceed 10 years, which is about 5-6 years.
As for the copyright sold by Liu, it is rumored that there is no such age limit, or, even if there is, it is probably a very long one, such as 20 or 30 years.
If you knew how difficult it was for Liu back then, you would know why he was eager to sell the film and television adaptation rights of "The Three-Body Problem" at that time. Liu did have unspeakable difficulties at that time. In fact, many book fans know that some of the things that happened between the novels "Three-Body 2" and "Three-Body 3" are related to Liu's family.
At that time, there were even rumors that "Three-Body 3" would not appear again. It was silent and there was no wave. At that time, it was also because of these rumors. As for what exactly it is, if you really say it, you may not be able to pass the review again.
I have always felt that China’s current literary and artistic aspects are not only backward, but also conservative. They have come in, we can definitely fight out. "Foundation" has been turned into shit by the politically correct American people. We bought the copyright and filmed it according to the original book, changing a large number of characters to be Chinese. Even if the special effects are just a bit off, we can immerse book fans around the world in a world where the Chinese control the entire universe.
But now it seems like a joke. The domestic entertainment capital has not been fully understood in China. If it does not help foreigners to sell itself, it will be fine. If it remakes foreign works and turns it into its own counterattack, just go to sleep!
