Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 521 Good News

But Ali Pictures did approach Li Qiutang; they were also eyeing "Pacific Rim 2".

However, the treatment at Ali Pictures is the same as other companies: they can negotiate, but they won't get any promises from Qiu Tian.

Starting in mid-November, a batch of films began to hit theaters to warm up for the Lunar New Year film season.

It's not really a warm-up; audiences are very enthusiastic about watching movies right now, and even off-peak release periods can produce great results.

"Spectre" grossed 120 million yuan on its opening day.

Taiwanese youth film "Our Times" also grossed over 100 million NTD in its opening weekend, so profitability is not a problem.

While "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 3" and "The Transporter Reboot" performed only moderately well, they generated significant buzz and did indeed create some interest.

The most important film in November has to be "The Martian".

Another big-budget movie is called "A Long Way to Go with Anthony". The cast is really average, but it is Zhou Xun's debut as a producer and executive producer.

The market is clearly hot, and they shouldn't lack acting opportunities, but in recent years, many leading actresses have tried to move behind the scenes. Not to mention talented actresses, they are now basically semi-retired. The most successful one in the transition is Zhao Yanzi, who is now a well-known director and a major shareholder of Ali Pictures, and has already sat at the table of capital.

Other leading actresses are still struggling. Tangde has successfully gone public, but Fan Bingbing doesn't seem to have become a capital tycoon. However, she has no shortage of roles and events throughout the year, so there's no need for her to rush into a career change.

The other actresses slowed down a bit.

You mean Liu Yifei? She's not interested in changing her image; she just wants to be an actress. She doesn't need to change her image; she's not even 30 yet, and she hasn't reached the maturity stage for an actress. What kind of change is she going to make?

There's a question Li Qiutang has always wanted to ask Liu Yifei but hasn't: how are things between her and Jiang Yiyan?

Jiang Yiyan did not mention Liu Yifei's absence from class on the show, and Jiang Yiyan promptly repaid all the money she borrowed from Liu Yifei. The two maintained a good relationship.

Jiang Yiyan did not attend Liu Yifei's wedding.

Li Qiutang was unaware that the two had quarreled and stopped communicating. She only remembered now when she saw that Jiang Yiyan's new film was going to be released in November.

In Li Qiutang's eyes, her old classmate was doing really well. Although she wasn't a top-tier actress, she was definitely in the middle of the second tier. Just this year, she had three movies released, two as the lead actress and one as a cameo, which was more impressive than 90% of actresses in the industry.

Li Qiutang had no idea that she had gone bankrupt from stock trading.

Li Qiutang didn't want to inquire about anything in detail, as he was busy finishing up the "Mojin: The Lost Legend" project.

That afternoon, Li Qiutang led a team to hold a video conference with the South Korean distribution team, hoping to secure more screen time in theaters. Li Qiutang hoped that the other party could guarantee 700 screens for the opening weekend. He knew that Chinese films were difficult to sell overseas, and 700 screens for the opening weekend was really not much for the South Korean domestic market.

However, the South Korean distributor only promised 200 yuan on the first day. If the performance is good, they will naturally promote it; if the performance is not good, they will talk about it later.

China has no binding force on South Korea. They've already paid the money and secured the theatrical release. Li Qiutang can't simply withhold films from them just because the number of art galleries they open isn't as high as expected.

The meeting yielded absolutely no results. Ye Ning even suggested subsidizing part of the publicity expenses for the Korean film company, but the Koreans refused.

The meeting had just ended, and all that could be heard was a buzzing of voices coming from outside the meeting room.

"Mr. Zhang is back?"

"boss Zhang."

Zhang Zhao has finally returned after two weeks in the United States.

Upon hearing this, Li Qiutang, who was tidying up in the conference room, said, "Our General Manager Zhang must have some good news to bring back." "How do you know it's good news?" asked one of the vice presidents of Wanda.

"If he comes back with a stern face, who would dare to greet him? He'll definitely be happy, then our employees will take the initiative to greet him."

Sure enough, as soon as Li Qiutang finished speaking, Zhang Zhao pushed open the conference room door and peeked in, looking relaxed.

“Everyone’s here,” Zhang Zhao said with a smile. “Are you all finished talking? If you’re done, I’m going to take Qiutang away.”

Ye Ning smiled and said, "It seems there really is good news. I wonder if you could share it with us?"

Why should they share their company's affairs with you?
But Ye Ning knew that Zhang Zhao's trip to the United States was to discuss "Pacific Rim 2". Although Wan Da could not interfere with Legendary's projects, "Pacific Rim 2" was always inextricably linked to Wan Da. So Ye Ning shamelessly asked to sit in on the conversation.

Li Qiutang and Zhang Zhao exchanged a glance, understanding Zhang Zhao's meaning, and said, "Then please give us your advice, President Ye."

Unrelated people left one after another, leaving only Wan Da and Qiu Tian in the meeting room.

Zhang Zhao talked about what his group had gained from "Global Times 2".

Toro wanted a $1 million budget for "Pacific Rim 2," and Zhang Zhao agreed to cover half of the costs, with Legendary and Universal handling the other half. If Legendary and Universal weren't even willing to contribute $1 million, then "Pacific Rim 2" deserved to fail. Qiu Tian had no right to interfere with how Legendary and Universal divided the $2 million, but Universal would still need to advance half of the promotional expenses for "Pacific Rim 2."

The production team has already started filming in Toronto using the initial funding.

"But the initial funding won't last long, so we need to transfer the money as soon as possible."

How are filming and production divided?

“It’s basically half and half, 9000 million for filming and 1.1 million for production. This is their budget and plan report.” Zhang Zhao handed over a booklet that was dozens of pages thick.

The WanDa team remains silent.

Zhang Zhao added, "Torro is always a slow filmmaker. This movie is expected to take 4 months, or 120 days, to shoot. If all goes well, filming will wrap up in mid-March. Because the start of filming has been postponed, the original plan for a 2017 North American summer release may not be possible. Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures still need to discuss the specific release date."

Zhang Zhao did not tell Wan Da that Autumn was the global producer or the Asian partner of "Pacific Rim 2".

This relates to whether to participate in global revenue sharing or buy out regional revenue in the fall.

Li Qiutang and Zhang Zhao made no attempt to hide anything from others, even in front of Ye Ning, they said they wanted to find domestic partners to share the $1 million deal.

“We’re not rich landlords, $1 million is too much.”

This is Li Qiutang's open scheme: I'm going to kill you, and I'll let you know I'm going to kill you, but you have no choice but to obediently come to my door.

To Li Qiutang's surprise, Ye Ning did not show much enthusiasm, but listened quietly to Zhang Zhao's story.

Li Qiutang suddenly remembered that Ye Ning was going to switch jobs to become the CEO of Huayi at the beginning of next year, and the Wang brothers should have already extended an invitation to him, and the two sides may have even reached an agreement in private.

That's why Ye Ning chose to remain silent. Perhaps he was thinking about whether to stand guard for Wan Da until the very end, or to take "Ring 2" to Huayi Brothers.
But there are plenty of people in China willing to take over this project, so Li Qiutang isn't worried at all that Ye Ning isn't taking it on.

After Wanda's team left, the overseas business general manager who had traveled with Zhang Zhao on the business trip took out another proposal from his bag.

"I deliberately didn't mention it when Ye Ning was here. Take a look at this."

The cover of the proposal features the Disney logo and the word "MULAN" written in English.

(End of this chapter)