Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 622 Strategic Deployment: No Financing Accepted
Does Yue Yunpeng's acting career prove that as long as you are popular and have a large following, film and television capital will support you, regardless of your abilities?
After Yue Yunpeng became a sensation, he received excellent film and television resources, even though the whole world knows he's not good at it.

Last year's National Day release, "I Belonged to You," featured the iconic scene of "Yanzi."

This year's Spring Festival film "Buddies in India" and Valentine's Day film "Crazy Yue Steals the Beauty" are the most outrageous films, tailor-made for him.

Also confirmed is a movie called "Happy Comedians" in March, and Da Peng also invited him to make a cameo appearance in "Sewing Machine Band".

It's really popular, and there are tons of resources available.

Yue Yunpeng is backed by a crosstalk troupe, but it's hard to say what his connection is with the troupe that allows him to perform in so many plays.

As everyone knows, although the troupe leader knows many people, it doesn't matter in the film and television industry.

In the end, all I can say is that after he became famous, various investors were willing to try their luck with him, and before long, he ended up acting in quite a few dramas.

But as I said before, Yue Yunpeng is really not good at this stage!

"Crazy Yue Steals the Beauty" is so bad it's unwatchable, but the author doesn't seem to care about the negative reviews.

With the strong rise of the Spring Festival film season, the Valentine's Day film season is no longer viable. It has gone from being a dominant film season to now barely surviving by relying on the pre-Spring Festival film season.

But then again, La La Land was also released during Valentine's Day, and it did very well.

The movie "Sing," which was released two days later, also did reasonably well.

Both films received very good reviews in China.

At the end of the month, the crew of "The Butterfly Lovers" finished all the indoor scenes, which means that the filming was 8% complete. The crew then moved to the outdoor location to film some landmarks and local customs of Yanjing.

On that same day, Li Qiutang received a call from Lantern Entertainment.

Lantern Entertainment's sci-fi film "Arrival" was nominated for eight Academy Awards this year, the best result in the company's history. The company asked him if he wanted to attend the Oscars ceremony, as they had plenty of invitations!
Arrival was nominated for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival last year and premiered in Venice. This was Cate Blanchett's 12th nomination at the three major European film festivals. Although she did not win any awards, she was already very satisfied with just being nominated. It was worth taking on this film.

Not to mention, the film's box office performance has also been quite good. It was initially thought that this sci-fi art film would deter many viewers, but unexpectedly, it has now successfully surpassed $100 million in global box office, making it relatively easy to break even. Lantern Entertainment is very satisfied.

Logically speaking, with such great achievements from the company, Li Qiutang, the boss, should be attending the Oscars to show his support. However, Li Qiutang is simply too busy; he still has films to finish shooting.

I had no choice but to refuse.

This year's Oscars aren't much to look forward to; *La La Land* has a huge chance of winning. It's hard to say whether this is a film tailored to the white male voters' nostalgia for the golden age of musicals, since director Damien Chazelle's previous work was also a musical.

He genuinely loves musicals.

In terms of international influence, *La La Land* certainly has the best chance of winning; its art direction, score, acting, and overall artistic quality are all top-notch. However, this is the American Oscars, and *Moonlight* practically swept all the domestic awards.

This film is politically correct to an insane degree.

Li Qiutang had seen the movie in advance. In terms of story and directing, the movie was actually quite good. However, the movie was clearly more about the topic than the movie itself, and it was crammed with too much stuff. It would have been better if it had been simplified.

Li Qiutang may not attend the Oscars, but it is already known in China that his films produced by his American company have been nominated for eight Academy Awards.

This news is like a nuclear bomb for Chinese filmmakers.

Arrival is an English-language film, but putting that aside, it did receive eight Oscar nominations. Many believe that Li Qiutang played a role in this.

“Many companies have approached us for collaborations, wanting us to help them get promoted for the Oscars,” Zhang Zhao complained over the phone.

"Is the Oscars my family's property? Do you think I can just walk in whenever I want?" Li Qiutang was speechless.

"That's what I said too, but they don't believe me."

"If I could push them, I would have already gotten my movie into the Oscars, and let them benefit from it."

"They were very willing to pay, offering 5000 million right off the bat."

"He has money." Li Qiutang thought this person was crazy. "With that money, he could use it to make a good film for the crew. What's the point of having such thoughts?"

In fact, Li Qiutang knew that their purpose in aiming for the Oscars was nothing more than to profit from the domestic market.

If Li Qiutang wanted to do this, she could easily rake in a hundred or two hundred million, but this is ultimately not the right path, and Li Qiutang looks down on these paltry sums.

In reality, Lantern Entertainment and Autumn Pictures have no organizational structure whatsoever. Seeking Autumn Pictures to help them win an Oscar is completely misguided.

But since both companies are owned by Li Qiutang, who else can they turn to if not Qiutian?
Li Qiutang instructed Zhang Zhao to keep a close eye on his subordinates. He didn't want to exploit them, but he couldn't guarantee that his subordinates wouldn't. If they used the company's name to do this kind of thing, it would implicate Li Qiutang personally and the entire company.

Zhang Zhao already knew this without Li Qiutang needing to specifically instruct him.

Zhang Zhao then talked about work, mainly the work at Almond Films, and Li Qiutang didn't need to worry about the live-action films.

Almond Films has produced three films in three years (one of which was imported), all of which have achieved good box office results. Finally, some belatedly interested people are also thinking about animated films.

This is a good thing. Both Li Qiutang herself and Qiutian Pictures have always said that they hope more companies and more funds will be invested in animated films. Qiutian Pictures does not want to monopolize the profits, nor can it.

An investment firm has its eye on Almond Films and wants to invest. Zhang Zhao wants this investment, but Almond has always been personally managed by Li Qiutang, so it's better to ask Li Qiutang's opinion first.

Li Qiutang refused to accept external investment. Li Qiutang viewed Almond Pictures as a strategic deployment for Autumn Pictures in the animation industry, not simply a financial investment. In other words, Li Qiutang didn't expect Almond to make money for the company in the short term.

Indeed, this is true. Almond Film made money on all three of its films in three years, but it also spent a considerable amount of money over the years. In those three years, Almond invested in and deployed resources in over 20 companies in the animation industry, either holding controlling stakes, participating in investments, or supporting projects. The domestic animation industry is not in good shape, and these companies do not see a clear profit prospect in the short term. Almond itself is still relying on its listed parent company for financial support.

Despite this, Li Qiutang still has no intention of accepting investment. Animated films have long production cycles and generally incur losses in the early stages. Qiutang's full control can prevent external investors from putting pressure on the project due to short-term performance fluctuations, thus ensuring investment in long-term projects.

Furthermore, the box office performance of animated films fluctuates greatly, and a wholly-owned structure can absorb losses internally in the fall, avoiding a crisis of external investors withdrawing due to the failure of a single project.

Most importantly, it ensures control. The wholly-owned structure is conducive to Autumn Pictures' vertical integration of the industry chain, guarantees its own resource allocation over the more than 20 companies it has invested in, and can also avoid disagreements with external investors on development direction.

Furthermore, full ownership can ensure unified IP ownership and avoid copyright fragmentation caused by external capital intervention.

Zhang Zhao also cited Wang Wei's Light Chaser Animation as an example, noting that Light Chaser completed a $2000 million Series B funding round in just 14 years, which was very attractive.

But Li Qiutang said, "That's because Wang Wei doesn't have the resources to make animation. What does the company lack? Can't it afford to support an animation company?" Wang Wei has money, but he is, after all, an outsider. It's normal for him to accept investment and bring in film and television production experience.

In short, Qiutian Pictures intends to keep Almond Pictures firmly in its grasp, and Li Qiutang has no plans to seek financing in the short term, at least for the next 10 years.

(End of this chapter)