Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 516: Fishing
After returning to China, Li Qiutang held a meeting with several core executives at the company to discuss the investment in "Pacific Rim 2".

Should we invest?

We'll definitely invest. The first film was a co-production, and although it lost money at the global box office, it made a whopping 8 million yuan in China, making the company very wealthy. Of course, we'll continue to invest in the second one.

My preferred investment strategy for autumn remains to buy out the profits after co-producing a film.

However, judging from the actions taken during the preparation period for the second film, neither Universal nor Legendary wanted to make Pacific Rim 2 a Sino-US co-production.

It was precisely because "Pacific Rim" made money in the Chinese market that they wanted to get a share of the profits for the sequel.

The problem now is that neither Universal nor Legendary wants to invest in a sequel, so there's no point in discussing revenue sharing.

The investment plan was finalized quickly in the fall. Toro wanted a budget of $2 million, and Fall could cover half of the costs. But this time, Fall didn't just want the profits from mainland China; he wanted the profits from sixteen countries across East and Southeast Asia.

Is that asking for an exorbitant price? No. It's unlikely that "Pacific Rim 2" will gross 3 million at the Asian box office.

But it remains to be seen which one Universal or Legend will choose.

The proposal was first communicated to Universal Pictures' China headquarters, and then submitted to the US headquarters.

In the case of "Global Times 2", Qiu Tian certainly had more information than other domestic companies.

Therefore, in the fall, they intentionally released information within the industry to generate buzz in advance.

"Pacific Rim 2 has been launched. Fall is still an important partner of Legendary Pictures. This film will still be a co-production of Fall. The first film grossed 8 million, and the second film will definitely break 10 billion."

"Autumn has already secured the domestic revenue buyout contract for 'Pacific Rim 2.' Zhang Zhao estimates that the second film will gross around 20 billion yuan in China. This time, Autumn wants to keep all the revenue from the second film for himself."

"Pacific Rim 2 has started production, and many domestic companies want to participate. Fall is a strong contender, but other companies are not to be underestimated either. Everyone has some connections overseas. But no matter how much they compete, the biggest beneficiary will always be Liu Yifei. Toro's script has been finalized, and the male and female leads from the previous film are confirmed to return. No matter how much money domestic companies offer, they can't replace Liu Yifei. In fact, there's no need to replace her. Domestic companies still need Liu Yifei to make money."

Most of these disseminated messages circulate within the investment field, and very few gossip accounts or followers pay attention to them, except for some bloggers who focus on behind-the-scenes industry developments, but even these bloggers' messages don't attract much attention.

Of course, Qiu Tian was exaggerating, but if he didn't exaggerate, how could he attract investors to take over? If he didn't exaggerate, why would Wang Zhonglei obediently sit across from Li Qiutang waiting for him to name his terms?

Li Qiutang and Huayi have completely broken ties. The Wang brothers believe that Li Qiutang ruined their amusement park project in Xingcheng, and they have been attacking Li Qiutang in the media for the past six months.

Whether Li Qiutang was injured or not is unknown, but Huayi was seriously injured. The stock market crash is over, but Huayi's stock price has never risen again. A few days ago, it finally rose back to 40 yuan, but it fell back down again in a few days. The projects that he had promised investors before fell through, and it is difficult to explain to the investors.

In fact, there is only one reason why Huayi's performance this year is poor: as a long-established and even leading film company, Huayi has not produced any outstanding films for the market.

This autumn, after losing "Lost in Hong Kong," what were people saying about it? But then, autumn pulled out "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" and "Goodbye Mr. Loser," and the two films together grossed 26 billion yuan at the box office, silencing even the biggest market turmoil.

No wonder he can stay in the business for ten or twenty years. Despite the previous falling out between the two sides, Wang Zhonglei is now sitting across from Li Qiutang with a friendly expression, acting as if nothing happened.

The person who accompanied Wang Zhonglei was none other than Yang Ying.

He apologized first, saying he had been too busy recently to attend the wedding in Australia, and then jokingly gave Li Qiutang a belated wedding gift: a set of exquisite custom-made porcelain, which could be used as a decoration or for everyday wear. It wasn't very expensive, but it was clear that it had been carefully crafted. Wang Zhonglei, as if unaware of the rift between them, didn't mention the amusement park at all during the entire meal.

Instead, as if explaining, he forcefully argued to Li Qiutang that Huayi's main business has always been film: "We can't possibly stop making movies. Huayi has been making movies since its inception, investing in films like those directed by Xiao Gang and Jiang Wen. I've said internally that it's not that we can't do business outside of film and television, but if we're talking about other profitable ventures, I firmly refuse to abandon film and television for something else. If we don't do film and television, I'd rather close down Huayi and sell the company. You can do whatever you want. As long as we brothers are here, Huayi will always be a film company." He spoke with great passion and fervor.

But Li Qiutang only believed half of what he heard. He said this not because he knew he was wrong, but because he was afraid of being taken advantage of.

After saying all that, Wang Zhonglei began to reminisce about the past, talking about Li Qiutang's two or three years at Huayi.

"Those were the good old days. We could just focus on making movies and not have to think about anything else." Of course, those were good times. Back then, Huayi Brothers had two big names, Feng Xiaogang and Li Qiutang, making them the undisputed leader in the country.

Li Qiutang just gave a couple of dry laughs and didn't say anything more.

After reminiscing about the past, Li Qiutang couldn't help but say, "President Wang, you didn't come here today just to reminisce about the past, did you? We're old acquaintances, so just say what you need to say."

Wang Zhonglei didn't mince words and directly brought up "Pacific Rim 2," meaning that Huayi would contribute 25% more to the film's release in the fall, with profits split 50/50: "The first film was a collaboration between our two companies, so it's only natural that we team up again for the second one." If Huayi hadn't been unable to connect with Universal and Legendary, Wang Zhonglei wouldn't have come to Li Qiutang for help.

However, Li Qiutang did not agree to Wang Zhonglei's request at the dinner, but said that she would go back and think about it. Li Qiutang refused to reveal any information about the progress of "Pacific Rim 2" to Wang Zhonglei.

Yang Ying's performance at the banquet was worthy of an award-winning actress. She acted as if nothing had happened, calling the director "Director" affectionately.

Li Qiutang took a sip, and she drank a whole cup.

Wang Zhonglei acted as a mediator, saying, "Baby, raise a glass to Director Li, and the past will be the past."

As for what constitutes a thing of the past, both sides tacitly agree.

As a director, Li Qiutang keenly noticed the reluctance in Yang Ying's eyes. She wasn't going to let it go so easily, but being an old hand, she concealed it very well.

"Director," Yang Ying raised her glass, agreeing with Wang Zhonglei, "I'd like to toast you again, hoping to act in one of your films in the future."

Li Qiutang joked, "You've already acted in 'Independence Day,' and you still think my film is good?"

"Look at what you're saying," Yang Ying said, even putting on a coquettish tone. "Which actor wouldn't want to act in your film? I'll drink it all." She tilted her head back and downed a glass of red wine.

Li Qiutang didn't hesitate and drank a cup.

It seems that despite breaking up with Huang Xiaoming, Huayi Brothers is still willing to promote Yang Ying.

The meal was quite boring; we didn't get any real substance discussed.

Can two drinks really make up for past grievances? Huayi isn't that naive, and neither is Li Qiutang.

(End of this chapter)