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

Chapter 539: Escape from the British Museum

In early May, the Magnolia Awards issued an announcement that this year's Magnolia Awards ceremony was cancelled. The various film and television drama projects that have already been registered will be postponed to next year.

This news is quite shocking to the film and television industry. After all, even when the flu was at its worst in 2020, the Magnolia Awards were only postponed for a few months. The last similar situation dates back to the SARS in 2003.

This is understandable, after all, the core of the "second round" of transmission this time is Shanghai. Since the end of March, this national economic center has been silent for more than a month.

Because this virus is a completely new variant, even patients who have been infected before may still be reinfected, and many people have tested positive for the virus.

However, as the new variant becomes more contagious, its pathogenicity has been greatly reduced. In addition, after two years of trials, medical resources are now sufficient, making the threat level of influenza less serious.

Officials and medical experts alike believe that this virus, which has affected the entire world, is reaching its end.

This is undoubtedly good news for everyone.

Taking this into consideration, Meng Bai, Chen Zhixi, Ke Liming and other shareholders within Ruyi, including Tencent, decided to accept Wanda’s request for help after several rounds of discussions and officially started negotiations to acquire Wanda Films.

According to the division of shares, Wanda Investment holds 22% of Wanda Films' shares, which means it has an absolute controlling stake, excluding the circulating shares.

Therefore, if Ruyi wants to acquire Wanda Cinema Line, it does not need to buy all the shares. As long as it obtains 51% of Wanda Investment's shares, it will be enough to gain indirect control over Wanda Films.

The price is the main subject of negotiation between the two parties. Wanda offered 24 billion according to the market value, while Ruyi offered around 21 billion. The difference is not too big, indicating that both parties are willing to make a deal.

However, it will take more than a day or two to reach a deal. The two teams will have more detailed discussions on the transaction amount and the subsequent theater rental, property and other cooperation conditions. This kind of negotiation will take more than a dozen rounds, and it will definitely take a year or two to finish the debate.

“Only by completing this link of theaters can Ruyi truly have the right to speak in the industry.”

In Ruyi's president's office, Chen Zhixi said with emotion: "However, Wanda Cinema Line's current losses are a bit serious. How to solve this financial problem after the acquisition in the future will also be a very arduous task."

"The income of cinema chains mainly depends on the situation of the film market. If we want to solve the financial problem, it depends on whether the film industry can produce more high-quality box office blockbusters in the future." Meng Bai said, who was sitting opposite.

Chen Zhixi sighed, "That's true, but movies are inherently mysterious, and no one can guarantee that a project will be successful. Especially in the past two years, due to the impact of the flu, fewer and fewer projects have been approved. It will probably be difficult for a while in the next two years."

Meng Bai thought for a moment and said, "Next year should be fine. We have three big productions, The Wandering Earth 2, She Vanished, and All or Nothing, and the other companies also have some inventory. We should be able to hold out for a year. The real hard times will come after 2024."

Both of them were a little worried about this, but this kind of problem involving the entire industry was not something that Ruyi could solve on its own, so they could only take it one step at a time.

Fortunately, in addition to its film business, Ruyi now also has the new "Pumpkin Short Plays".

As the flu situation worsens, offline entertainment has been affected, while online entertainment has ushered in a new peak. The number of users of long drama platforms has increased significantly, and the number of users of short drama platforms has increased by leaps and bounds.

Compared with before this round of flu, the number of monthly active users of Pumpkin Short Drama is still at the level of 0.8 million, but the average daily usage time of users has increased from 1.02 hours to hours.

This means that as the user base expands, more and more viewers are more keen on watching short dramas.

However, as the trend becomes more and more popular, some problems have also gradually emerged.

For example, because the review has not yet been touched, a large number of short dramas that are close to the truth have begun to emerge. At the same time, because the production threshold is low, the short dramas are also highly homogenized. Short dramas for men are basically concentrated on themes such as the return of the Dragon King, the rise of the son-in-law, and the descent of the miracle doctor. Short dramas for women are flooded with various domineering bosses and their wives, which is very similar to the style of the online literature market in the early days.

In other words, the vast majority of short plays currently available are, in essence, nothing more than online fiction adapted for film and television, and are essentially the same thing.

For Meng Bai, this kind of scene is very familiar to him. When online dramas first became popular, there was a similar chaos, and he had experienced it once before.

Because of his experience, he knew that the low threshold for short plays would not last long. Within half a year, they would be included in the review system.

Therefore, the future development direction of short dramas, like today's online dramas, must take the route of high-quality production. As one of the pioneers of the short drama industry, he naturally needs to set a benchmark for the entire industry.

On the one hand, it is to prove to the authorities that short plays are also part of the normal entertainment system, to prevent the industry from being wiped out by an iron fist one day; on the other hand, it is to let the audience understand that short plays are not just those crudely made pornographic skits, but also include excellent works.

"Is this the script for the skit you mentioned a while ago?"

Chen Zhixi looked at the document in front of him. Compared with regular film and television scripts, this book was much thinner. The name of the story was written on the cover - "Escape from the British Museum".

"Tsk tsk, this is the first skit that our President Meng personally directed. Should I wash my hands and burn incense before watching it to show respect?"

"Sister Xi, your style is that of a mature female CEO. Please stop doing this kind of malicious cuteness."

"Haha, I'm afraid what you really want to say is 'old age'?"

"How could that be?" Meng Bai took a sip of water and said, "I won't admit it."

Chen Zhixi rolled his eyes at him, but did not tease him again. Instead, he lowered his head and looked at the script in his hand.

Zhang Yongan, a young painter who is keen on depicting cultural relics, came to the UK for his interest. He wanted to see the original "Biography of Female Historian" at the British Museum. Unexpectedly, after arriving, he was told that the Huaxia Museum was temporarily closed because a Chinese jade pot with twined branches was mysteriously lost.

Zhang Yongan, who had failed to fulfill his wish, was about to leave with regret, but he bumped into a little girl in emerald green Hanfu at the entrance of the museum, who asked him to take her away. As they were both Chinese, Zhang Yongan agreed to the girl's request, took her away and treated her to a meal.

During the conversation, the girl who called herself "Chanzhi" said that she came here from China not long ago to display oriental art, but when she arrived, she was pestered by a group of weird old people.

These old people were very old, their memories were fragmented, and their words were incoherent. In particular, one of them, a woman named "Nu Shi", always had a stern face and complained that Chanzhi's behavior was not proper and his words were too presumptuous.

However, there is one thing these old people remember very clearly, that is, they were brought to Britain a long time ago, and they wanted to go home but couldn't find the way out, so they hoped that the "Chanzhi" who had just been sent here would tell them how to go back.

But "Chanzhi" never took the "nonsense" of these old people seriously, and was annoyed by listening to their quarrels every day, so he escaped by himself.

Listening to the story of "Chanzhi", Zhang Yongan gradually realized that the girl in front of him was the "Chinese Thin-bodied Jade Pot with Continuous Branch Pattern" that mysteriously disappeared from the British Museum. And those "nonsense" old men were the stolen cultural relics of the motherland.

Faced with the current situation, Zhang Yongan decided to persuade "Chanzhi" to help those cultural relics that have "wandered for a hundred years" return home...

(End of this chapter)