Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 778 Summary Meeting

That's what Li Qiutang thought, and that's what she planned to do.

He really intends to build his own AI R&D team. He owns the largest film and television copyright library in China Entertainment Group. It would be a waste not to make use of such a good resource.

However, he did not act blindly. AI has not yet formed an industrial effect and its practical applications are limited. It is not too late to wait two more years, conduct thorough investigations and research before taking action.

But before that, wouldn't it be worthwhile to try investing in a few AI and chip companies and enjoy the financial returns first? Is Nvidia currently at a low point?
Maintaining a video platform and developing AI is very expensive. If we can raise 20-30 billion yuan in the next few years, the entire Qiutian Group will be able to get by comfortably, and the thousands of people under our command will be secure.

Thinking about this, Li Qiutang lost all interest in playing the game.

A global black swan event is imminent, which he cannot change. All he can do is try his best to protect his own little corner of the world.

One aspect is defending the film industry and expanding the television series industry; another aspect is acquiring a video platform to integrate the entire industry chain.

Finding external investment is also an important aspect, and a very important one.

After all, the film and television industry doesn't have as much money as the internet, finance, and real industries.

It just so happens that he has been organizing his investments over the past few years, so he can take this opportunity to consolidate his funds and make plans for the next step.

When Li Qiutang's investment advisor obtained the boss's stock holdings information, he was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth.

I bought Apple in 07, Monster and Penguin in 08, and Amazon and Netflix in 09. Wouldn't each of those be worth dozens of times more now?

Investment advisors once suspected that Li Qiutang was from another time, because no one could so accurately predict these investment trends.

Li Qiutang now says he wants to sell a portion of the company's stock to raise funds for business innovation.

The investment advisor advised him not to be impulsive, saying that these stocks were gems, still in their upward phase, and there was still room for profit.

Of course, there's still money to be made, Li Qiutang understands that, but as he said before, he can't possibly make the last penny.

He held the position for ten years and made enough money. Now is the time to cash out and leave without any regrets.

To put it bluntly, money is really just a number to Li Qiutang now.

The increase from 200 billion to 300 billion has a negligible impact on Li Qiutang's work and life.

Li Qiutang thought for a moment and then instructed, "How about this, we don't need to clear out all the inventory. We can sell a portion of it as we see fit, and then..." Li Qiutang quickly estimated the time and figures, "Give me 2 billion by October."

This is Li Qiutang's personal money and has nothing to do with the company. Most of this money will be used to supplement the company through various legal channels for business innovation.

We can't let Mr. Li pay for everything himself, right? So the company isn't contributing a single penny?

Li Qiutang proceeded with her fund recovery process at a leisurely pace, with little work to do each day.

The outside world naturally assumed that Li Qiutang had temporarily left the film industry and was taking a break.

"The Wandering Earth" is still in theaters. Although its screenings and growth have been minimal, it still has some box office revenue. According to Maoyan's real-time data, "The Wandering Earth" has grossed 61 billion yuan in mainland China.

After the hype surrounding "The Wandering Earth" died down, some people started saying, "The box office of 'The Wandering Earth' was driven up by companies and institutions booking screenings. Half of its box office came from these institutional bookings." It's certain that "The Wandering Earth" had such bookings; after the Spring Festival, many netizens revealed that their company bosses booked screenings for the company, a fact that even Autumn Pictures couldn't deny.

To say that half of the box office revenue comes from private screenings is clearly a smear campaign that ignores the facts.

But Qiu Tian doesn't plan to respond to anything, because there's no need. Wolf Warrior 2 was also said to have been released in theaters by private screenings.

Responding seriously to such remarks would only make one appear to be making a mountain out of a molehill.

My box office of 61 billion yuan speaks for itself, and I can't even tolerate your few words?
But moviegoers won't tolerate such slander against "The Wandering Earth." During its theatrical run, some viewers accepted the claim that the story was simple—and indeed, "The Wandering Earth" is simple—but this was to lower the barrier to entry for audiences. A simple story is easier to understand; a complex story wouldn't sell tickets during the Spring Festival season.

While some moviegoers agree that the special effects in "The Wandering Earth" still need improvement, they acknowledge that while the effects have reached mainstream Hollywood levels, they are indeed some distance from top-tier standards. However, this is the best that China can achieve at this stage, so we shouldn't be too critical.

Even Li Qiutang had to admit that the two actors in "The Wandering Earth" were only passable.

But now, moviegoers don't believe that the box office of The Wandering Earth was inflated by booking out entire theaters!

The fans' rebuttals were reasonable and well-founded.

"The colonists are setting the tone, case closed. Of the 61 billion yuan box office for 'The Wandering Earth,' 31 billion yuan came from the opening weekend of the first six days of the Lunar New Year. At this time, everyone's on holiday, where are they going to book out screenings for you?"

"If renting out entire theaters can produce such results, then why is the box office performance of a legitimate state-owned film like 'The Founding of an Army' so poor? Renting out entire theaters to raise the price of a film produced by a private company to such a high level is like giving taxpayers' money away to a private company for nothing. Do you think that's possible? Oh, you actually think it is, don't you?"

The idea of ​​renting out the entire theater was told to Li Qiutang as a joke by her colleagues at Qiutian Film Studio. Li Qiutang finally came to the company that day to discuss the new platform and fundraising, but was dragged by her colleagues to a meeting.

The Wandering Earth achieved unprecedented success, and Chen Zhixi felt it was necessary to hold a meeting to summarize the experience, at least once for the company's functional departments and once for the film crew's creative team.

Hearing the suggestion of booking out entire theaters, Li Qiutang found it amusing: "Don't worry about it, they're just clowns. The ceiling for booking out entire theaters is only around 400 million, what can that kind of box office do?"

To take a recent example, the 15 film "The Hundred Regiments Offensive" grossed 4 million yuan, almost entirely from private screenings. Many viewers probably haven't even heard of this movie.

Returning to the summary of "The Wandering Earth," from the perspective of functional departments, Li Qiutang believes that publicity and distribution deserve the most credit.

The film "The Wandering Earth" was at a disadvantage in terms of subject matter and runtime during the Spring Festival season, but its proactive marketing strategies, including but not limited to advance screenings that generated positive word-of-mouth and a frenzy of viral online and offline promotion, allowed the film to achieve a comeback during the pre-sale stage.

"Especially the strategy of playing the industrial card in the early stage and the emotional card in the later stage is very good. The industrial card can attract a large audience, while the emotional card can attract female and family audiences." Li Qiutang specifically mentioned this point. "To be honest, I was not optimistic about the emotional card at first. I thought that female audiences would not buy into our film at first. Most female audiences would probably follow the trend after the film became popular. But the 4 million yuan opening day result proved me wrong."

It's no wonder Li Qiutang didn't believe in female viewers at first; hard science fiction does indeed have low appeal to female audiences.

"I don't have the data, so I don't know the percentage of female viewers in the audience a few days ago, but it should be quite optimistic. I also don't know if our marketing has actually worked on female viewers."

"It worked!" the publicity director said, citing data as evidence. "Your and Meng Meiqi's activities have garnered excellent readership and click-through rates across various platforms. Netizens have said they want to see you dance like a girl group member, but I didn't have time to tell you." Everyone laughed after he finished speaking.

Li Qiutang laughed too: "If dancing to girl group songs can increase box office revenue by 100 or 200 million, I'd be more than willing."

"You can jump around at the celebration banquet later."

"Hahahaha!" Everyone laughed again.

(End of this chapter)