This man knows how to hype

Chapter 424: The Weasel Greets the Chicken (Update 13)

"You mean, Warner wants to set up a joint venture with Huaqing in Hong Kong?" In the office, Xu Xiyu sounded a little surprised.

If he remembered correctly, on Earth, Warner and China Media established a company called Flagship Pictures in Hong Kong.

The company also invested in some movies later, such as "Lu Yao Zhi Mali" and "The Meg", but the popularity was not big, and it seemed a bit useless to do serious business.

Thinking of this, Xu Xiyu continued to ask: "Excuse me, what kind of cooperation model does your company hope to promote? What is the positioning of this joint venture company?"

These words were translated by Cheng Guangzu and reached Jeffrey's ears.

Soon, Jeffrey's answer was translated back by Cheng Guangzu.

He said to Xu Xiyu, "Boss Xu, what Mr. Jeffrey meant is that they hope this company can become a link for cooperation between Warner and Huaqing.

In the future, Warner will invest in Huaqing's projects through this company; similarly, Huaqing can also invest in Warner's projects through this company.

Not only that, in the future, we can use this company as a springboard to introduce Huaqing’s films to the European and American markets and expand its global influence.”

At this point, Cheng Guangzu couldn't help but add: "Boss Xu, this is great news!"

Hearing this, Xu Xiyu glanced at Cheng Guangzu, then looked at Jeffrey and the other five, and smiled deliberately: "Brother Zu, when doing translation, you need accuracy, not subjective emotions.

Warner Bros. invested more than a billion dollars in eight films last year, but except for "Pink Barbie," all the others suffered losses. In addition, Hollywood has always had a tradition of cooking the books.

Over the years, there have been so many cases where profitable movies were turned into loss-making projects and the investors were not given any money. To be honest, I am scared when I hear about them.

Speaking of Warner's investment in Huaqing, I'm not bragging. Huaqing is not short of money. Now a lot of people want to invest in me. It doesn't matter to me whether Warner invests or not.

Finally, what is the standard for introducing Hua Qing's films to Europe and America? Arranging for three or two theaters to show the film is also considered introduction, and 3,000 to 5,000 theaters is also considered introduction. What kind of introduction is he talking about?"

As soon as these words came out, Cheng Guangzu's face froze.

Even uglier than his were the two Chinese women who followed him. Jeffrey couldn't understand what Xu Xiyu was saying, but these two heard it very clearly.

In fact, Xu Xiyu was speaking to them.

The reason why he behaves like this is not because he is arrogant or impolite, but it is a negotiation skill.

After all, he spoke to Cheng Guangzu in Chinese, not directly to Jeffrey in English. This was equivalent to expressing his doubts directly and saving some face.

Therefore, after Xu Xiyu finished speaking, he pretended to say: "There is no need to translate these words. Guests from afar are welcome. I believe Mr. Jeffrey came here with sincerity.

However, this matter is indeed too sudden. How about this, Zu Ge, you ask Mr. Jeffrey to leave the cooperation plan, and I will hold a meeting with the shareholders first, after all, I have to be responsible to the board of directors. "

After saying this, he gave a sincere smile to Jeffrey, who obviously didn't understand.

He smiled, and Jeffrey smiled too.

The corners of Cheng Guangzu's mouth and those two women's mouths twitched at the same time.

shareholder?

Are you a liar?

Does Huaqing have other shareholders who have a say?

So, one of the women couldn't help but said, "Mr. Xu, we definitely came here with sincerity, but I think your sincerity doesn't seem to be enough."

The woman's tone was a bit strange, sounding like an ABC accent, but it seemed that this ABC accent was deliberately imitated.

Hearing this, Xu Xiyu smiled and said, "Excuse me, where are you working at Warner?"

"I'm Mr. Jeffrey's assistant for Greater China." The woman looked somewhat complacent when she said this.

But when Xu Xiyu heard this, he replied in a calm tone: "Oh, if that's the case, your opinion is actually not important. It's enough for Mr. Jeffrey to feel sincere."

"……" These words almost choked the woman to death, and she was just about to speak.

Xu Xiyu was heard urging Cheng Guangzu again: "Brother Zu, translate it, and then take Mr. Jeffrey to have a rest. As for the copyright of Infernal Affairs, just communicate with Shuangshuang. I don't care about it."

"Oh, okay." Cheng Guangzu was ultimately on Xu Xiyu's side, so after being urged like this, he didn't offer any other opinions.

After some polite exchanges, the group of five was taken away by Cheng Guangzu.

Another hour later, Cheng Guangzu returned to Xu Xiyu's office. The first thing he said after entering was: "Mr. Xu, are they cheating?"

"I don't know." Xu Xiyu shook his head while looking through the cooperation plan.

"I don't know, then why don't you talk to them more?" Cheng Guangzu was even more confused.

Hearing this, Xu Xiyu put down the information in his hand, looked up at Cheng Guangzu and said, "Let me ask you, why does Warner want to come and cooperate with us for no reason?"

"Is it because Hollywood movies continue to be unreceived in China, and they want to find another way and don't want to miss out on the world's second largest box office market?" Cheng Guangzu pondered.

"That's just one reason. Secondly, I always feel that they can't stand the influence of political correctness and want to find someone to pay for their 'movies full of correct elements'.

I am the one who got taken advantage of. In other words, they want to invest in my movies to make money in China, and at the same time they want me to invest in their movies to share their losses. "When these words came out, Cheng Guangzu was really stunned. After a long time, he said in disbelief: "Is that so?"

"Isn't it? Believe it or not, they would never let me invest in projects that really have the potential to make money. Do you really believe that Hollywood film companies would want me to succeed?

They hope that all domestic film companies will die so that we can have whatever we want in our market." Xu Xiyu said happily.

"Then...so what you mean is that you won't cooperate." Cheng Guangzu said thoughtfully.

"No, I think we can cooperate." Xu Xiyu shook his head.

Without waiting for Cheng Guangzu's reply, he continued, "What I said just now was so unpleasant, those two women will definitely exaggerate and tell Jeffrey when they go back.

If under this circumstance, Jeffrey still wants to establish a joint venture with us, then the initiative is in our hands and we can put forward our own demands.

My request will not be too gentle. If Jeffrey still compromises even though I am not gentle, it can only mean one thing. "

"Warner has big plans?" Cheng Guangzu answered quickly.

"No, on the contrary. It only proves that Jeffrey is not targeting us." Xu Xiyu shook his head.

"Ah?!" These words really confused Cheng Guangzu.

"Think about it, what era is this? What kind of storm can a joint venture cause? He is aiming for something big. He wants to achieve it, but can he get it?
I am not one of those who kneel down, and he won't think I am one of those who kneel down, because my attitude just now and the attitude I will show later will prove this.

If he is still determined to cooperate with us under such circumstances, then he is only plotting to change their internal interests. In other words, he wants to use us to tell stories to Warner.

This further proves that the situation within Warner is indeed not optimistic, and there is only one reason for the pessimism, that is, the losses are too large and there are huge differences among shareholders.

Warner has a large business, and it is difficult to unify the interests of its internal staff. Now, some people want to do things right, some want to make money, and some have other ideas.

You don't think that companies won't be affected in a divided society, do you? If you divide the group too much vertically, the people in their company will also be divided.

I just asked a friend to help me find out. I heard that Warner has been losing money for years, and its parent company AT&T is seeking a merger between Warner and Universal. "

"Impossible?" Cheng Guangzu was really shocked. "That's Warner."

"What happened to Warner? Has it changed hands several times over the years? MGM was so powerful back then, but it went bankrupt, and was finally sold to Amazon for more than 8 billion." Xu Xiyu said happily.

Cheng Guangzu didn't know what to say. People of his generation were too influenced by the West and always had some unrealistic filters.

Therefore, Xu Xiyu continued: "Brother Zu, this is what I think. If we want to set up a joint venture company in Hong Kong, then you should invest in this company and manage it on your side."

"But, according to what you said, it seems that establishing this joint venture will not do us any good." Cheng Guangzu was puzzled.

"It's true that you can't get benefits directly from Warner, but you can still use Warner's banner to get benefits from other places." Xu Xiyu laughed.

On the other side, Jeffrey was listening to the report from his female assistant with a frown on his face.

He really didn't know what Xu Xiyu had just said in the office.

"Jeffrey, I think that yellow-skinned kid is too arrogant. He has no respect for us at all. The few achievements we have made in China have completely blinded his eyes.

So, I think there is no need for us to cooperate with him. Believe me, there are many people here who want to join us. If you just condescend, they will immediately kneel down and kiss your shoes. "The female assistant said angrily.

Hearing this, Jeffrey tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa, and after a while he said calmly: "Erica, I don't want to hear this, I just want to know if there are other people like him in China.

Each of his films can earn more than 3.5 million US dollars at the box office. The movie called "Dying to Survive" even earned 6.8 million US dollars in the Chinese market alone.

Houlixie, last year our champion "Pink Barbie" only made $5.7 million in North America. Tell me, what's the point of me working with others?"

"But our movie 'Barbie Pink' grossed 14 billion worldwide, a result he will never be able to achieve in his lifetime," argued the female assistant known as Erica.

"But the movie Queen of the Sea, which I directed, cost more than 2 million yuan, but the box office was only 2 million yuan. This group of stupid audiences have lost the ability to appreciate great works!"

Jeffrey angrily pounded the sofa, saying that the movie was a big loss, so he had to seek new achievements to consolidate his position.

Seeing that he was angry, the female assistant quickly shut up.

He shut up, but the Korean man who followed him said, "Mr. Jeffrey, I think you might as well turn your attention to Korea. The filmmakers in the Republic of Korea are much better than those in China."

As soon as these words came out, Jeffrey glanced at him and ignored him.

Objectively speaking, some Korean feature films are indeed excellent.

But this is useless because the Korean entertainment industry is export-oriented, that is, the Korean entertainment industry relies on overseas markets, and the domestic market is quite small.

Is it a good filmmaker that Jeffrey needs?
No.

What he wants is a filmmaker who has a broad market, like Xu Xiyu, who has the Chinese market. Only by telling stories about Xu Xiyu will the shareholders be interested.

What’s the point of Korean filmmakers being so excellent?
Hollywood has no shortage of talent.

Thinking of this, Jeffrey had an idea in his mind. He felt that he still needed to have a good talk with Xu Xiyu.

(End of this chapter)