Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 451 I refuse to believe it!

As the largest investor in "Mojin: The Lost Legend," Wan Da certainly had the right to handle the copyright of "Mojin: The Lost Legend." In principle, the director had no right to interfere, but Qiu Tian was the second largest investor.

Li Qiutang's opinion is that there is no rush to sell now. The film is scheduled for release in December, and before that, there are major international platforms such as Cannes, Toronto and Los Angeles to choose from. Now is the off-season for global film transactions, so why sell it at a low price?

Is Wanda really short of just a few million?

Or is it just about using the gimmick of "selling international rights right after filming wrapped"?

What's the hype surrounding this?

Finally, under Li Qiutang's strong intervention, Ye Ning abandoned the copyright negotiations.

That evening, Li Qiutang had dinner with several leaders from the cultural and tourism departments. There was still no news about the approval for the new amusement park, but according to what they had heard so far, it was very likely that one would be issued this year.

Regardless of whether the news was true or false, Li Qiutang had to try to get the approval document for her fellow villager.

After inviting the cultural and tourism sector, we invite the cultural and publicity sector; after that, we invite the housing and construction sector; after that, we invite the radio and television sector; and after that, we have to invite a few investors to take a bath.

Is it that easy to be the boss?

It's the end of the year, and everyone has a ton of social engagements.
That evening, Liu Yifei waited for Li Qiutang to return at the garage entrance.

I could see the company car driving by from a distance.

Li Qiutang wasn't drunk, but her face was flushed, and she would throw up if she drank another cup.

Li Qiutang got out of the car, and a gust of wind blew, making it quite cold.

"Can I leave?"

"It's alright." Li Qiutang told her assistant to drive the car away. "You don't need to pick me up tomorrow."

When the couple got home, Li Qiutang complained all the way about how a company CEO had taken advantage of a young woman who was there to run errands at the dinner table earlier that day.

"He's been reincarnated from a starving ghost, acting like he's never seen a woman in his eight lifetimes."

Liu Yifei echoed, "There are all kinds of people, why bother with him?"

The two entered the room, where Liu Xiaoli was already asleep. The couple sat on the first floor.

"Lean on," Liu Yifei helped Li Qiutang lean against the sofa, "I'll go make you a cup of honey water."

Li Qiutang asked Liu Yifei to turn on the TV: "Let me listen to the sound."

There weren't many good programs on TV late at night. The screen was showing a TV series that Li Qiutang was too lazy to read the name of, but it sounded quite lively.

After drinking the water, Li Qiutang mentioned that she was going to fly to the United States in a few days and asked Liu Yifei if she wanted to go.

“I’m not going,” Liu Yifei refused. “I have a lot of things to do at the end of the year, and I have work for the next few days.”

After sitting for a while, Li Qiutang felt much better, so she and Liu Yifei went back to their room to rest.

Li Qiutang's schedule was also full on the second day, but Huayi still managed to squeeze in a last-minute meeting with Wang Zhonglei.

Li Qiutang had no idea what Wang Zhonglei wanted to talk to him about, but he gladly went to the meeting.

Huayi eventually found out that Li Qiutang was helping Changying Film Studio with the work of building a new film and television city. If Li Qiutang could find out, Huayi might be able to find out as well. Some things are open secrets in the industry.

There is a high probability that a construction permit will be issued this year, and Huayi is determined to obtain it and will not allow anyone to pose a threat to it.

Although Changchun Film Studio has declined, even a broken ship has three thousand nails. Who knows what resources this cradle of Chinese cinema can leverage?

A few years ago, Changchun Film Group successfully acquired land on Hainan Island and began developing a new theme park.
Huayi never expected that Changchun Film Studio would ask Li Qiutang for help.
Who would have thought that Changchun Film Studio is now applying for new approvals to build its third amusement park? Changchun Film Studio plans to build a new amusement park in Harbin, which will operate normally during the year and will be linked with the Ice and Snow World every winter. Meanwhile, Huayi plans to build an amusement park in Changsha. The site has already been selected, and the approval will be obtained this year, with construction starting next year.

Once the permits were obtained, land acquisition began. The theme park occupied 50% of the land, while the rest was used for supporting facilities such as real estate, schools, hospitals, and office buildings. A theme park requires an investment of four to five billion yuan, but the resources it leverages are worth far more than ten billion yuan.

It involves a wide range of people and deep interests.

How much money can you make by working hard to make a movie?
The project will definitely be led by Changchun Film Group and Xidu government. Li Qiutang's personal power is limited; he is just an intermediary and may not be able to play a significant role.

But one can never be too careful. Li Qiutang has considerable influence in the film and television industry and has even accompanied a delegation to the United States to participate in negotiations. Who knows what kind of people he knows in relevant departments or even the central government?

His decision to help Changchun Film Group was ultimately a significant variable. Therefore, Wang Zhonglei was determined to persuade Li Qiutang to withdraw from the Changchun Film Group project.

As soon as Wang Zhonglei finished speaking, Li Qiutang wanted to refuse, but before he could speak, Wang Zhonglei first told Li Qiutang about Huayi's strategies, strongly arguing that Huayi must win this competition.

Last year, Huayi proposed its famous "de-film-centric" strategy, stating that the company aims to become an integrator of the entertainment ecosystem in the future.

The strategy itself is not problematic, but the mistake lies in choosing such a name.

To outsiders, Huayi Brothers is simply a film company. What do you mean by now advocating for moving away from film as a sole focus? Isn't this a departure from your core business?
Fortunately, Huayi Brothers performed quite well last year, with good box office revenue and rapid growth in revenue from sectors other than film.

There has been no widespread criticism of his strategy yet – rapid development has masked many problems.

If the two brothers were a little smarter, they could have learned from Mr. Jia and come up with a new term like "new entertainment ecosystem" or "new attitude towards movies."

In any case, while they verbally advocate for the film and entertainment sector, their actual actions still involve real estate development or internet investment.

The slogan of "de-cinematization" has gone too far.

But Li Qiutang also had his own explanation: "I didn't do much work personally. I just acted as an intermediary to attract investment. The specific approvals and procedures were handled by Changying Group, Xidu, and the Harbin government."

Li Qiutang swore he was telling the truth; that was all the work he did, maybe with a mascot role at most—because he was famous.

But Wang Zhonglei simply didn't believe it! You're saying you're just a middleman, smoothing things over with investors, and you're going to personally get involved in something like that, just to make a little profit? Who would believe that!
Wang Zhonglei still believes that Li Qiutang played an important role in it.

Wang Zhonglei first asked Li Qiutang, "Have you sold all the shares of your company?"

"More or less, maybe a few thousand or ten thousand left." Li Qiutang started cashing out Huayi shares in 13, and gradually cleared them out over the past two years, accumulating more than 2 million yuan in cash.

Li Qiutang smiled and said, "The money for my wedding all came from this, so I have to thank President Wang."

What Wang Zhonglei wanted was exactly what Li Qiutang said. If Li Qiutang made a lot of money from Huayi's stock, things would be much easier.

“Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll transfer 100 million shares to you from my personal share. You’ll need a lot of money for your wedding, so this is just a small token of my appreciation.”

Huayi's stock price is currently around 30 yuan, so this transaction is worth 3000 million yuan. That's quite generous.

But this gesture was too much for Li Qiutang to handle; she dared not accept it.

When Li Qiutang refused to accept the stocks, Wang Zhonglei offered to give her a house, specifically a house in Beverly Hills, Hollywood.

Li Qiutang still refused. He told Wang Zhonglei the truth very seriously: his work was limited.

"Mr. Wang, I have some business to attend to at my company, so I'll be leaving now." Seeing that she couldn't reason with him, Li Qiutang didn't waste any more words and took her leave.

Even after Li Qiutang left, Wang Zhonglei still felt that Li Qiutang hadn't told him the truth.

He must have been deeply involved in this project, even using his connections in government departments for Changchun Film Studio. Wang Zhonglei was very determined.

(End of this chapter)