Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 291 Wanda Withdraws Investment
Time on the set always goes by quickly.

Before we knew it, more than a month has passed since the Spring Festival.

As the filming of "Peace Hotel" reached the middle stage, the actors gradually adapted to their roles and the rhythm of filming, and were no longer as tired as they were when filming just started.

In this way, Qin Lan finally had the opportunity to have a good "discuss the script" with Meng Bai.

Noon, hotel room.

It was a rare occasion that Qin Lan didn't have any scenes to shoot today and could take a day off, so he had a good fight with Teacher Meng for several rounds last night.

At this moment, the two were resting and being "frank with each other".

"Ding-da-ding-ding-ding, Daddy is on the phone~"

A cell phone ring that sounded a little funny woke Qin Lan from his sleep.

He groped over towards the sound and picked up a cell phone from the bedside.

Until now, she finally opened her eyes.

I frowned and glanced at the screen. The caller's name was "Sister Xi".

Who is "Sister Xi"?
Qin Lan tried hard to use his brain and then reacted.

This doesn't look like my phone.

Take another look and, well, it’s definitely not.

No wonder the ringtone sounds so strange.

As a mature sister, she would not take the wrong phone and make mistakes.

Qin Lan pushed the little man beside him and handed him the phone.

"your phone."

"..."

Meng Bai, who was forcibly awakened, took a deep breath and suppressed his bad temper.

"Hey, Sister Xi, disturbing someone's sleep so early in the morning is a crime."

He said this in an unhappy tone, and shook his head at Qin Lan who was consciously asking "Do I need to avoid it?" and whispered "It doesn't matter."

"It's almost time for lunch, why is it so early in the morning?"

Chen Zhixi's voice came from the phone, but then she heard murmurs from the other end.

Although I didn't hear clearly what was said, considering the scene, it's not difficult to guess that there must be someone else around the other person.

Thinking of this, Chen Zhixi said jokingly: "Sorry, it seems that I did disturb you. Meng Bai, why don't you go ahead and do your work, and we can talk again in the afternoon."

"No, we're all awake now, just tell me what you want to say." Meng Bai said.

Chen Zhixi naturally would not refuse, and changed his tone back to seriousness and said: "Okay, mainly I have some news to tell you."

"From your tone, Sister Xi, it doesn't look like good news." Meng Bai sighed, "Go ahead, I'm ready."

"I just got the news from Wanda that they have plans to withdraw their investment from the Wandering Earth project."

"…Have you decided yet?"

"Not yet, but almost there."

After saying that, Chen Zhixi asked again in confusion: "You don't seem very surprised."

"Why are you surprised? We could have guessed it since before the New Year." Meng Bai's lazy voice came.

He was not pretending to be profound, but he had indeed thought about this situation before.

"The Great Wall" completed its regular schedule in mid-January, and then applied for a one-month key extension, but its cumulative box office still did not exceed 12 billion.

Even if we add the $3.3 million earned from overseas markets in the following month, it would still be a loss.

With just this one battle, Wanda Film and Television’s full-year revenue for 2016 was almost wiped out.

But for Wanda Film and Television, the difficulties go far beyond this.

A bit like Boss Jia, Wanda has also been trying to build a "full ecological chain" in the film and television industry in recent years. Entering the entertainment and film industry, establishing theaters, producing movies, acquiring Legendary Pictures and AMC Theaters...

Wanda is much more stable than Boss Jia, and has more resources behind it. So far, this goal has basically been achieved.

The "ecological chain" has been built, but the benefits are not much.

Wanda headquarters has not had an easy time in the past two years. According to the annual report released at the beginning of the year, the profit margin for the whole year last year was less than 0.4%, which is almost the same as a loss.

Overseas acquisitions have consumed a huge amount of funds, and domestic film and television content is becoming increasingly lagging.

At the end of last year, Wanda also announced that it would merge Wanda Film and Television and Wanda Cinemas (Cinemas).

As a result, blockbuster movies such as "Warcraft" and "The Great Wall" directly dragged down the M&A process.

To some extent, Wanda is very similar to Leshi.com a year ago.

However, Mr. Wang is still better than Mr. Jia after all. At least Wanda still has assets to sell.

Hotels, commercial complexes, cultural and tourism plazas...projects that will be "packaged" by Wanda have begun to circulate in the capital market.

Under such circumstances, investment in film and television will naturally become more cautious. Every project must be fully evaluated for risk ratio.

Obviously, a film like "The Wandering Earth" is naturally a project with an extremely high risk ratio.

Therefore, it is not unimaginable that Wanda will withdraw its investment.

"What should we do now?" Chen Zhixi asked, "If they withdraw, there will be a gap of 8000 million in the budget."

"What else can we do? We can just look for new partners." Meng Bai sighed.

It is impossible to rely entirely on Arc Light to make up the 8000 million funding gap.

After all, the company's funds had been allocated years ago.

There are only two solutions now. Either postpone the start date for another half a year or wait for ArcLight to recover part of the project funds this year.

But in this case, the entire production time will be too long, and there is a chance that a situation similar to Wanda’s will occur, which will inevitably lead to more trouble.

Or, find new investors.

"How about this, I'm going back to Beijing tomorrow to discuss the performance conditions with the actor of the young male lead 'Liu Qi'. We can talk about it when we meet." Meng Bai said.

"Okay, I'll wait for you at the company."

Chen Zhixi responded and prepared to hang up the phone.

But before she ended, she didn't forget to make another joke: "I advise you to be careful and don't be like Lao Chen, who got caught again."

The "Old Chen" that Chen Zhixi mentioned is Chen Sicheng.

Not long ago, after the Spring Festival, he was photographed by paparazzi having a night out with a beautiful woman in a hotel.

And compared to last year, this time it has been upgraded to "1VS2".

He has been criticized a lot on the Internet for this matter recently.

After all, I could still find some excuses to make it up last year, but this time I can't explain it at all.

During this period of time, netizens and Tong Liya's fans have been scolding this guy on the Internet.

That is to say, the performance and quality of "Detective Chinatown 3" which became a hit last year helped him gain some weight.

At least if you really can't say it, you can still save your face by saying "Talented directors are all romantic."

Otherwise, I would have been criticized and quit the circle by now.

"Sister Xi, how can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air? I am single and there is no such risk."

Meng Bai said without hesitation.

These words were somewhat shameless, so not only did Chen Zhixi spit at him, even Qin Lan, who was lying next to him, couldn't help but pinch the soft flesh around his waist.

Meng Bai took a deep breath, held the sister's hand, and said to the phone: "Okay, Sister Xi, let's leave it at that for now, and we'll talk about it when I get back."

(End of this chapter)