Xu Zheng to pocket RM73.5 million from his new movie
BEIJING: Chinese star Xu Zheng has been guaranteed a payday of some US$17.5 million (RM73.5 million) on his current project, Lost in Russia.
That is over half of the film’s gross production budget.
Lost in Russia, which recently began shooting, is backed by Huanxi Media, the Hong Konglisted Chinese production and streaming company behind Ning Hao’s recent smash hit, Crazy Alien.
That film, a comedy about a zookeeper and an extraterrestrial, has made $327 million at the domestic box office.
Xu starred in Crazy Alien and has a stellar list of acting credits, including last summer’s hit Dying to Survive and previous Lost In franchise films in Thailand and Hong Kong. Xu is set as writer, director, producer and lead actor of Lost in Russia, which is expected to be one of the biggest titles in China next year and is already targeting a release in January 2020 for the Chinese New Year holiday period.
But the details of Xu’s payday are clearly set out because he is a 15 per cent shareholder in Huanxi and is considered a “connected person” under Hong Kong Stock Exchange regulations. That means approval for his contracts must be sought from independent shareholders by the end of this month.
A regulatory filing by Huanxi shows that Xu will personally receive US$1.49 million as Lost in Russia’s screenwriter, another RMB10 million as its producer, US$4.02 million as director, and US$5.97 million as lead actor.
The film’s production budget, excluding Xu’s multiple services, is set at US$14.9 million. Huanxi gets to exploit the film for a period of 15 years.
Chinese media say that the story involves a small-time gangster on a train journey to Moscow who must overcome a fractious relationship with his mother while trying to fend off competitors.
Huanxi recently issued an unquantified profit warning for the 2018 financial year, blaming likely losses on sharebased payments made to secure talent.
The company is controlled by businessman Dong Ping and former banker Steven Xiang, alongside film directors Xu and Ning. Its business model foresees talent owning a significant portion of the rights to the films they make while Huanxi also builds its own streaming platform.
In another recent filing, Huanxi said that it had received the full US$104 million proceeds of a minimum-guarantee deal it signed with a special-purpose company concerning the cinematic box office of Crazy Alien – despite the film falling short of its target.
The minimum-guarantee payout ensures Huanxi a healthy profit on Alien, which will appear in its 2019 accounts.