Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 417 Noon Sunshine, Nostalgia (Two chapters combined, 4k length)

[Abel Wu's school days]

[Wu Zhuo's company's new film, some of the plot of which is based on Wu Zhuo's own school days]

[Giddens Ko's classic youth literature has been adapted for the big screen, and the film also includes scenes of Wu Zhuo going to school.]

"You Are the Apple of My Eye" is adapted from Giddens Ko's novel, which was also very popular in mainland China.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo's side did not directly promote the film as his autobiography, but only vaguely stated that it included scenes from Wu Zhuo's school days.

However, Wu Zhuo's propaganda is not really false propaganda, because the school life of most ordinary students in Taiwan is the same.

Wu Zhuo actually experienced many of the scenes in the movie.

Therefore, this kind of advertising does not constitute false advertising.

The promotional approach of directly linking this film with Wu Zhuo has indeed been very effective.

After seeing these promotions, many of Wu Zhuo's fans expressed their intention to go to the cinema to support him.

"I'm so excited! I really want to know about Wu Zhuo's student life."

"Sisters, remember to go to the cinema to support Wu Zhuo on July 23! Although he is not the lead actor in this movie, many of the plots are based on his student days."

"Let's go! Even though it's not a movie starring Wu Zhuo, I'm going to see it because of Calvin Chen."

A large number of fans began promoting the film even before its release.

With the huge success of the youth film "Fleet of Time" last year, which attracted a large audience, "You Are the Apple of My Eye" has garnered much attention.

Some experts predict that even in this summer's blockbuster season, "You Are the Apple of My Eye" could still gross over 100 million yuan.

To be honest, this year's summer movie season does appear to be exceptionally competitive, no less so than last year.

The most anticipated domestic film is undoubtedly Huayi Brothers' "Aftershock," which is also invested in by Legendary Pictures and is scheduled for release on July 26.

Then there's "City Under Siege," starring Aaron Kwok. The pre-release promotion for this film was also very strong, and it was scheduled for release on August 6th.

Next is "Love Announcement," starring Wang Leehom and Liu Yifei. Thanks to the fame of Wang Leehom and Liu Yifei, this film has also garnered a lot of attention and is scheduled for release on August 12.

This is just a domestic film. As for foreign blockbusters, the most eye-catching one this year is the Hollywood blockbuster "The Expendables," in which Jet Li participated.

Other films that have already been released include "Ocean Heaven" and "The Karate Kid".

Among these, the biggest competitor of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is "Aftershock".

The two films were only shown for three days.

It's not that Wu Zhuo didn't want to avoid this film.

The schedule is just too tight; the theaters have already arranged the screenings, and it's impossible to change the schedule at the last minute.

Unless, unless it's moved to the Lunar New Year release window.

Therefore, even though Legendary knew they were going up against "Aftershock", they had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

Fortunately, the two films are of different genres and target different audiences, so even if there is an impact, it won't be too significant.

On July 23, after continuous promotion, "You Are the Apple of My Eye" officially premiered in Beijing and was released nationwide simultaneously.

This film is being released simultaneously across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Wu Zhuo, the boss, also attended the premiere to promote the film.

However, considering the cost, the film did not invite many celebrities to help out.

Besides Wu Zhuo, Liu Shishi, Wu Jing and other artists from Legendary Film Company, only two other members of Fahrenheit, Jiro Wang and Wu Zun, as well as some other friends of Calvin Chen came to support them.

This is Calvin Chen's first starring film, and he was very nervous about it.

He was even more anxious about the film's failure than Wu Zhuo, the investor.

He almost never misses a promotional event, running roadshows every day and encouraging fans to go see the movie.

They were extremely busy.

However, his efforts were not in vain.

"You Are the Apple of My Eye" achieved a great opening day in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

On its opening day, the film grossed 1400 million RMB across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Of that, the box office revenue in mainland China was 750 million.

In terms of word-of-mouth, this film has received surprisingly good reviews.

Many film critics say they saw youth in it.

With both critical acclaim and box office success, this film has officially entered the fierce competition of summer blockbusters.

However, Wu Zhuo did not participate in the follow-up work of this project at this time.

He is currently busy recruiting talent.

Hou Hongliang, a name that most people don't know much about.

However, the company he later became chairman of, Daylight Entertainment, is a company that is well-known to many people.

This company can be considered the top TV drama production company in China 12 years from now.

At this time, however, this future renowned company had not yet been established.

After Hou Hongliang and others started their first business in 07, which went bankrupt, they are now seeking a second venture.

To put it bluntly, they are currently in a slump.

Wu Zhuo only remembered this team when he heard from a colleague that Hou Hongliang and Kong Sheng, one of the directors of "Crossing the Guandong", and their team were looking for investment to start a company.

“Mr. Wu, do you want us to be incorporated into your Legendary Films company, or are you just investing in us?”

Hou Hongliang and the others were undoubtedly pleased that Wu Zhuo had come to them.

But they were also hesitant.

They thought Wu Zhuo wanted to recruit them into Legendary Pictures.

This is precisely what they are unwilling to do; they want to start their own companies, not work for others.

Otherwise, with their abilities, they could work for any company.

"No, I'm not here on behalf of Legendary Pictures, I'm here on my own behalf."

In the quiet restaurant, Wu Zhuo revealed his plan: "I know you are currently lacking investment. I believe in the capabilities of you seniors in this industry, so I would like to invest in you."

Hou Hongliang and Kong Sheng exchanged a glance, both of them somewhat tempted.

Their team doesn't lack people, what they lack is money.

With enough funding, they could set up a company immediately and start filming the series right away.

"How will the shares be distributed?" Hou Hongliang looked at Wu Zhuo and asked the question that concerned him most.

“I will invest the money and own 51% of the company’s shares; you can be the legal representative.”

Wu Zhuo has nothing but money.

At least in the entertainment industry, he is a very wealthy man.

So he simply chose to use money to bribe people.

"I can directly inject 30 million RMB into the company, so that you can set up the company and immediately start filming TV series."

"I'd even be willing to take a pay cut to act in a suitable TV series."

Upon hearing this, Hou Hongliang and Kong Sheng's eyes lit up.

Wu Zhuo is no ordinary actor.

He has had three consecutive films gross over 300 million at the box office. At the same time, he enjoys immense popularity in Japan, South Korea, and throughout Southeast Asia.

The combination of these two factors makes his value far exceed that of ordinary television actors.

If he were to actually star in a TV series, both television stations and foreign production companies would be vying for him.

Such a film would be invaluable to a company.

"Mr. Wu, how about this, you wait a few days while we go back and discuss it, and we'll get back to you within next week?"

Although Wu Zhuo is young, he is now considered an investor.

Therefore, Hou Hongliang used the formal "you" (您).

"Sure, I'll take a few days off. Let me know when you have any news."

Wu Zhuo wasn't lying; he genuinely wanted to steal a moment of leisure to take a vacation.

Since he started dating Liu Shishi, he hasn't had a proper vacation with her yet!
It just so happens that Liu Shishi has now emerged from seclusion.

Well, I guess I've made it out of quarantine.

Since joining Legendary Pictures, Liu Shishi has been busy practicing acting.

During this period, he also starred in a film called "Xuan-Yuan Sword," co-produced by Legendary Film Company and Tangren Media.

When Wu Zhuo asked Tangren for Liu Shishi, the two parties agreed to cooperate on business matters.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo naturally allowed Tangren Media to start filming "Xuan-Yuan Sword" ahead of schedule.

Filming for this movie started at the beginning of the year and is now basically complete.

……

In fact, Hou Hongliang and his group didn't even have two days to consider it.

Just over a day later, they called Wu Zhuo to express their agreement with his investment.

After discussing the establishment of the company, Hou Hongliang and others immediately began to set up the company.

This team had experience running a company together before and had been preparing to start another business.

So the action was very quick; in just two weeks, Daylight Entertainment, which would later become a household name in the television industry, was officially established in Beijing.

The company's grand opening project, recommended by Wu Zhuo, was decided to be "Nirvana in Fire".

This novel began serialization on Qidian.com as early as 2006.

Then, when Wu Zhuo's copyright company was collecting copyrights everywhere, they also bought it and left it to gather dust in their copyright library.

When Daylight Entertainment chose to air a TV series for its opening ceremony, Wu Zhuo brought it out.

However, unlike Legendary Pictures, Wu Zhuo did not choose to license the copyright for one dollar this time.

Instead, it was sold to Noon Sunshine at the regular market price.

This is not Wu Zhuo treating Legendary Films and Daylight Entertainment differently.

The main reason is that Wu Zhuo had already re-planned the use of the copyrights he held last year.

Since last year, whenever his own company produces films based on the copyrights he holds, whether it's an independent production or a co-investment, he has to pay copyright fees.

It's just that it will be relatively cheaper, and there will be far fewer requirements and complications.

The reason for this decision is...

The main reason is that copyright companies also need to generate profits to operate.

We can't keep working for free!

Therefore, after the suggestion from the senior management of the copyright company, Wu Zhuo decided to charge copyright fees to his own company as well.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Wu Zhuo's copyright management company has grown bigger and bigger.

He leveraged the fame he gained from managing Wu Zhuo's song copyrights.

The company has begun to get involved in copyright management.

In fact, many people think that as long as they own the copyright to a song, that's enough.

But the reality is that if you want to profit from copyrights, you need a copyright company to manage the copyrights you own.

Otherwise, you might not even know that someone has violated your rights.

The role of a copyright management company is not simply to place copyrights within the company.

They require operation and management.

For example, if you manage the copyright of a novel yourself, you can only hold onto it and let it gather dust.

Copyright management companies will take your novel to film and television companies for promotion, so that your novel can be adapted into a film, television series, or a game, etc.

Copyright management companies, on the other hand, need to take a cut of the promotion revenue and management fees.

The same applies to songs.

Copyright management companies hold a large number of song copyrights, which often gives them a significant advantage when negotiating song copyright licensing with streaming music platforms.

To put it simply, if you negotiate a price of 5 yuan for a song with a music platform, then a copyright management company that owns a large number of copyrights and can negotiate directly with the music platform can get 6 yuan.

In addition, copyright management companies are better at protecting rights than individuals.

Copyright management companies need to comprehensively monitor the market when managing songs.

Any act of infringing on a company's work must be effectively stopped, and legal action must be taken on behalf of the party involved.

Unfortunately, when domestic singers sign with record companies, they usually sign a copyright management agreement.

This has made it difficult for Wu Zhuo's copyright company to make progress in song copyright management.

He could only work with some small record companies, managing the copyrights of their songs on their behalf.

Although Daylight Entertainment has been established and its first project has begun to be planned, Wu Zhuo will even personally star in the project, with Liu Shishi as the female lead.

However, once a company is established, all sorts of messy things can happen.

Moreover, planning a project is not that simple.

Therefore, the company immediately went quiet again after its establishment, preparing to unleash its big move.

As for Wu Zhuo, after his vacation ended, he flew back to Taiwan.

"It's been a long time since I've been back here. Coming back feels like it was just yesterday when I signed the contract."

At the entrance of Tianxi Entertainment Agency, Wu Zhuo looked up at the sign that hadn't been changed when he first came here.

The scene of him signing the contract is still vivid in my mind, as if it were yesterday.

But the truth is, five years have already passed.

So much has happened in five years.

He went from being unknown to becoming an internationally renowned figure.

The environment along Zhongxiao East Road has also changed significantly.

The bus route between the suburbs and the city center became less crowded, as the MRT took away a large portion of its business.

With a special feeling, Wu Zhuo stepped into Tianxi Entertainment Agency.

Some of the photos of the company's famous artists that were originally displayed in the lobby are no longer there, and some people who weren't there before have been used by the company for publicity.

His own poster was placed in the most prominent and central position.

Wu Zhuo, whose English name is Abel, was born in 1986...

(End of this chapter)