Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 448 Gambling
Not only reporters, but even Zhao Youting, Yao Chen, and director of photography Cao Yu from the same production team couldn't understand why Lu Chuan would be the first to criticize "Mojin: The Lost Legend" at the wrap-up press conference for "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe".

Filming for "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" began in August and wrapped up in January, taking about five months. It was a tough shoot.

The crew wrapped up filming at the Hengdian Studios and held a press conference in Yanjing to mark the end of filming.

At the press conference, director Lu Chuan not only reminisced with the main cast about the hardships and joys of filming, but also made a sarcastic remark about "Mojin: The Lost Legend," which shocked everyone present!

"It depends on who adapts the same IP. Both are adaptations of 'King Lear,' but Kurosawa Akira was able to create 'Ran,' while some works will never be written into history. Our works will definitely stand the test of the audience and history."

How dare he compare himself to Akira Kurosawa! Cao Yu, sitting next to him, almost lost control of his expression, but the reporters below the stage had already captured his grimacing and swallowing expression.

“We don’t want to compare ourselves with anyone, but we’re not afraid to compare ourselves with anyone either.” Lu Chuan gestured to the group of main creators around him. “They are all excellent, and I have a lot of confidence in them.”

"It will definitely be released this year, and I have a lot of confidence in our post-production team. I won't predict the box office; that's up to the producer." He became modest at this point.

The news that filming for "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" had wrapped up and Lu Chuan's words were spread immediately.

Audiences knew the two films would clash, but they didn't expect it to happen so quickly, and that "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe" would strike first.

But Li Qiutang didn't want to pay any attention to Lu Chuan. Although he didn't need to keep a close eye on the post-production of "Mojin: The Lost Legend," he still had to check on it from time to time. In addition, it was the end of the year, and he had more social engagements with the company and himself, as well as work on a new film. He didn't have time to argue with people online.

He's been in Harbin for the past few days, and taking advantage of his official duties, he brought Liu Yifei to the Ice and Snow World.

In the past few days, the Xidu Municipal Government, together with Harbin, organized potential investors and relevant government departments to conduct on-site inspections in Xidu regarding the new Changying Century City project. Li Qiutang was also one of the accompanying personnel.

He's not just a simple mascot for this project; he's actually used his influence to attract several potential investors. Whether they can retain them depends on Xidu and Bingcheng's capabilities. Meanwhile, he's also working hard for the necessary permits. Permits for film and television base construction are incredibly rare each year—sometimes none at all, sometimes only one or two. The competition is fierce, and nobody knows if he can secure one.

"Don't go yet, let me see," Li Qiutang called to Liu Yifei.

"What?"

Li Qiutang touched her leg and knew she wasn't wearing long johns. He then lifted her trouser leg and saw that she wasn't wearing any.

"It's minus ten or twenty degrees outside, and you're still not wearing long johns? You'll freeze to death!"

Li Qiutang knew that Liu Yifei hated long johns. It was one thing normally, but coming to Harbin and not wearing them was a bit too confident.

"It looks awful," Liu Yifei still refused.

"What's wrong with wearing it underneath?" Li Qiutang had already prepared it for her. "Go change quickly. If you catch a cold and get sick, where will I find such a beautiful wife again?"

She liked hearing that, and took the thermal underwear Li Qiutang had bought her and looked at it:
"It's so ugly."

"Even thermal underwear is like this; it's minus 10 or 20 degrees Celsius outside, it's not just ordinary cold."

Liu Yifei was eventually persuaded to change into thermal underwear.

"do you need my help?"

"Get out!" Liu Yifei's crisp voice came from the bathroom.

Liu Yifei in thermal underwear doesn't look out of place on the surface, but she herself says it feels awkward.

"gone."

After leaving, Li Qiutang said, "How about I buy you a mink coat? How can you come to Northeast China without wearing a mink coat?"

What is a mink?

"Mink coat! One of the three treasures of Northeast China, incredibly warm."

"How old am I to be wearing a mink coat?" "There are trendy, youthful styles. I bought one for my mom a couple of years ago, and she loved it."

Liu Yifei, being incredibly shrewd, rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "When we get back, I'll try to win over your mom and ask her to give me her coat. Your mom is about the same height as me, haha."

"If you're capable, you can have it."

Liu Yifei is an amusement park enthusiast. It was her first time visiting the Ice and Snow World, and she had a great time. She dragged Li Qiutang to ride the ice slide twice, even though the lines were incredibly long.

"Should our company build an amusement park like this too?"

“I’ve told you so many times, that’s not ours. I’m just helping people promote it, and at most I’ll earn a little extra money in the process. This amusement park costs four or five billion to build, and I don’t want to do it yet.” Li Qiutang didn’t say that he couldn’t afford the money, he just didn’t want to do it for the time being. “Come on, let’s go over there and take a look. The scenery is better over there. I’ll take a couple more pictures of you.”

After spending three days in Harbin, having finished their work and had their fill of fun, Li Qiutang took Liu Yifei back to Fengtian for two more days before leaving home and returning to Yanjing.

Upon returning, the first task presented to Li Qiutang was a betting agreement.

It's not a performance-based bet between the company and its shareholders, but rather a performance-based bet between the company and other companies.

Zhang Zhao was very optimistic about Yang Mi's development. Just then, Jiaxing was in the early stages of its business and urgently needed funds, so the two sides hit it off immediately!
Autumn Pictures set up a performance-based agreement with Jiaxing Pictures. Autumn Pictures would inject 3 million yuan in cash into Jiaxing Pictures and acquire 20% of its shares. The condition was that Jiaxing Pictures had to achieve a net profit of 3.1 million yuan within the next three years. Otherwise, Jiaxing Pictures would have to repurchase the shares held by Autumn Pictures at an interest rate of 15%. Another requirement was that Jiaxing Pictures' core employees could not leave the company during the agreement period.

After going through many twists and turns, this most famous performance-based agreement actually ended up in his hands.

Does Yang Mi know about this?

"I know, she's still filming, and Zeng Jia came to sign her."

"3.1 million over 3 years, what level is that in the industry?" Li Qiutang asked rhetorically.

"We can accomplish it, but it will definitely require a lot of hard work and also depends on luck. If they happen to stumble upon a blockbuster movie that grosses 10 billion yuan, that would be easy. If we fail to accomplish it, Jiaxing will have to work for us to pay off our debts."

Li Qiutang read the betting agreement over and over again, and felt there were no problems.

Jiaxing needed funds for development, so it chose to take this risk. If it succeeded, its market value soared, and it became a big boss. If it failed, it would work for others to pay off its debts.

Li Qiutang asked himself honestly, if he hadn't had enough funds when he started his own business, would he have also taken the risk of signing a performance-based agreement with someone else?

Li Qiutang even joked about herself: "Why doesn't anyone sign a betting agreement with me?"

"Why should I sign anything with you? I might as well just give you the money."

Li Qiutang is the highest-earning director in the Chinese film industry, so signing a performance-based agreement with him would probably be quite pointless.

"Oh right, Wan Da hasn't settled my payment yet. Have you asked him?" Filming for "Mojin: The Lost Legend" is finished, and Li Qiutang needs to collect her money.

Directors' fees are usually paid in four installments: upon signing the contract, upon starting filming, upon completion of filming, and upon obtaining a theatrical release permit. Li Qiutang has now received the first installment of 300 million yuan as a signing fee.

"The company is still negotiating. Wanda has recently softened its stance and wants to agree to a 10 billion yuan box office performance bet with you."

He just said no one would sign a performance-based agreement with him, and here he is.

"The production cost has already exceeded the budget by 4000 million, and we don't know what will happen in the later stages, so we might as well sign that performance-based agreement."

"You guys help me negotiate," Li Qiutang said, not saying much more.

It's just a 10 billion box office bet; it's not difficult to achieve.

(End of this chapter)