Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 349 The Hot Commodity: "Those Fleeting Years"

Starting from August 8th, the weather in Beijing became increasingly hot.

However, the Olympic atmosphere in China was not affected at all; on the contrary, it became even more heated.

The athletes are giving their all on the field, while the audience is cheering them on enthusiastically, either in person or in front of their televisions.

The entire country was enveloped in an exceptionally enthusiastic atmosphere.

As for Wu Zhuo, after watching the Olympics with Liu Shishi for two consecutive days, he also left that atmosphere behind and returned to his work once Liu Shishi returned to the film crew.

He has a lot going on in the second half of the year.

First, Legendary Pictures' production of "Fleet of Time" is about to be approved.

This film was the first movie produced by Legendary Pictures.

This is also Wu Zhuo's first film as a boss.

At the same time, it was also the first time he personally carried the box office of a film.

With several top-ranked players combined, Wu Zhuo couldn't afford to ignore it.

Then came the recording of the sub-unit's album. Although there weren't many songs, Wu Zhuo always strives for perfection.

Even if this EP doesn't become a timeless classic, it should at least be above average.

Another one is his new solo album.

His new solo album is currently attracting a lot of attention.

Many people are wondering if he can replicate the miracle of last year's "Mr. Senses".

If he surpasses or can rival Wu Zhuo, then there's no doubt he will firmly establish himself as a top-tier singer in China, a position that will be unshakeable.

She might even surpass Jay Chou and become the best-selling singer in China.

Conversely, if the new album is a flop, there will be a huge influx of media and opportunists scrambling to grab a share of Wu Zhuo's popularity.

This is the reality of the entertainment industry.

When you succeed, everyone flatters you.

Currently, due to his repeated successes, many people are showering Wu Zhuo with flattery, almost to the point of calling him the number one singer in China.

But all of this is fake.

In the entertainment industry, if you take some things too seriously, you've already lost.

Those who fawn over you now will turn into vicious wolves and relentlessly trample on you the moment you fail.

Wu Zhuo is currently in this situation.

If his new album is successful, he will definitely skyrocket to fame, and comparing him to Jay Chou will no longer attract any criticism.

Conversely, if it fails, a deluge of negative reviews will surely follow.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo himself is actually under considerable pressure.

Although he knew that the songs he had chosen were all good songs, songs that had stood the test of time.

But who can predict what will happen in the entertainment industry?

Then, he was also responsible for producing the soundtrack for "Chinese Paladin 3".

It wasn't until he did the math that Wu Zhuo realized he wouldn't have any rest time for the rest of the year.

Wu Zhuo could only console himself in this situation.

Keep busy while you're young, so you can relax later.

Everything Wu Zhuo did in the second half of the year was done in a specific order.

It's impossible to do everything at once; we have to sort things out one by one.

Considering that Legendary Pictures has been around for a long time, their first film hasn't even started production yet.

"Fleet of Time" was placed first.

At the very least, we need to get the project approved and the actors selected.

After all, it was the company's first production, and Wu Zhuo, Zheng Jianfeng, and others were quite worried about its failure.

This failure is not just about losing money.

Rather, it was the collapse of the entire business.

Especially Zheng Jianfeng.

Zheng Jianfeng was willing to become the general manager of Legendary Film Company in order to start from scratch and establish a large film company.

For this reason, he even gave up the attempts to win over Emperor Entertainment and Enlight Media.

Therefore, he was the one who valued this project the most in the entire company, even more so than Wu Zhuo, the big boss.

To avoid a complete collapse after one failure, Zheng Jianfeng approached Wu Zhuo and strongly urged him to allocate a certain percentage of his investment to other companies. "According to the original plan, of the 30% of investment we allocated, 25% has already been absorbed by Enlight Media."

However, Huayi Brothers really wanted to get involved, as they felt the remaining 5% wasn't enough.

Wang Zhonglei has been calling me repeatedly, hoping we'll give up another 20% of our investment.

Inside the legendary film company, Zheng Jianfeng looked solemn:
"Personally, I think we can give them some more investment."

This is good for both us and them.

This will greatly mitigate our risk, preventing the company from collapsing because of this one film.

"You don't believe this show can be a success?"

Wu Zhuo looked at him.

This is neither a question nor a reprimand.

Zheng Jianfeng has been in this industry for many years and is one of the top producers in the future.

Wu Zhuo felt that he must have realized that there were uncontrollable risks in this film when he said that.

"No movie is 100% successful. Even Stephen Chow wouldn't dare say he's 100% successful."

We need to be prepared, just in case.

Zheng Jianfeng raised his head and explained:

"With you as the lead actor, I'm not worried about the film losing a lot of money at the box office."

The reason I advocated releasing more investment shares was that I intended to use these shares to improve relations with Enlight Media and Huayi Brothers.

Both of these companies are giants in the domestic market.

Giving up some of our interests to improve our relationship with them will only benefit us.

After all, the biggest taboo in this industry is trying to keep everything to yourself.

Wu Zhuo nodded subconsciously.

Although the film industry and record companies are both in the entertainment industry, there are still significant differences between them.

Record companies can monopolize the profits; top singers' records can be produced and released entirely by a single record company.

Movies are different.

Looking at the entire Chinese-language film industry.

Even China Film Group, when investing in a film, will not choose to keep it all to itself.

Perhaps their primary goal is to share the risk.

However, it is undeniable that giving up a certain share of investment is actually how this circle operates.

Take Feng Xiaogang and Stephen Chow as an example.

These two are the most productive "golden goose" in China in recent years.

Their film projects have almost always been highly profitable.

Even so, no single company chose to monopolize the profits; instead, several companies invested together.

It's not that we don't want to eat alone.

But can't.

If you dare to eat alone today, others will ostracize you tomorrow and won't let you share the rest of the pie.

Who can guarantee that their cake will be delicious, and that other companies won't have good cakes?
Currently, Wu Zhuo's "Fleet of Time" is actually a pretty good cake.

Because of Wu Zhuo's high popularity, after he was confirmed to play the lead role.

Companies including Huayi Brothers and Enlight Media contacted us almost without even reading the script, expressing their desire to invest.

Why is this?

It's just that they think this movie is bound to make money!
In this situation, Wu Zhuo could indeed refuse interference from other companies.

This is entirely feasible.

But doing so will narrow your options.

If Wu Zhuo does this, Legendary Pictures will be 100% ostracized and will never be able to participate in projects of Huayi Brothers or Enlight Media again.

"Twenty percent won't do. We need to ensure absolute control over this project. Let's give another ten percent, making it a total of fifteen percent to Huayi Brothers!"

Wu Zhuo paused for a moment, then added, "Remember to tell Enlight Media and Huayi Brothers that this project is guaranteed to be profitable. We gave them almost half of our share, and we hope that they won't exclude us when they have a good project next time."

Enlight Media and Huayi Brothers still have many good projects in the future.

If they could get involved in the investment, it would also benefit Legendary Pictures.

(End of this chapter)