Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 613 The enemy of my enemy is my friend! A collaboration with Wanda Cinemas? How about starting with "The Warring States"?
"Actually, in general, we want to cooperate better with filmmakers in Hong Kong, so that we can achieve mutual integration."

"Boss, can I just ask directly?"

"Oh, you ask? Is there anything between us that we can't talk about?"

"Is it related to Edison Chen's affair?"

"This……"

"Is it because this incident has dealt such a heavy blow to the Hong Kong film industry that we, from the mainland, are giving them some benefits?"

“Oh, Xiao Ma, you can’t say that. We on the mainland should show our magnanimity and have a higher perspective.”

"Yes, yes, it's my problem, or the leader has a much broader perspective."

"Hahaha...you know, actually what you said makes sense, yeah, it makes sense."

"Huh? Really?"

"Let's talk about it privately, you know what I mean."

"Please rest assured, sir, I will absolutely not tell anyone."

"Haha... Okay, I trust you completely."

Huang Baiming is a big shot, and he's been expanding into mainland China for quite some time now.

But what he's about to do this time is truly extraordinary.

The Lunar New Year film season is a period that mainland filmmakers have worked hard for over a decade to finally make a success of.

You come here and immediately ask for this and that.

This needs to be discussed properly.

So when Ma Xun discussed things with Huang Baiming, he was all smiles, but he didn't offer many concessions.

We can't just favor all the people from Hong Kong.

So, in the end, Han Sanping also had a discussion with them.

This year... oh no, I should say next year.

Let's try it next year.

This means allocating some of the resources for publicity and distribution, as well as theater chains, towards Hong Kong's Lunar New Year films.

Of course, films from mainland China can also try coming here; all genres are welcome, no problem.

In other words, let's just create a Spring Festival film season.

It's important to understand that this specific timeframe requires a lot of coordination.

The most obvious thing is that when movie theaters are doing well, do they need more people?
Right? This is the simplest principle, and anyone in business understands it.

But the Spring Festival is a very special time.

How can we hire more people at this time?

A large number of migrant workers have returned to their hometowns from big cities.

Many of the staff at the movie theater have already gone home.

Okay, even if we tell them not to go home, we still have other things to do.

Overtime pay!

Everyone must understand one thing: a company might dare not pay overtime to some senior executives, but it certainly wouldn't dare not pay overtime to some frontline staff.

Many frontline workers earn their living through overtime pay.

For example, a sales clerk in a shopping mall, or a sales clerk in a certain brand store.

It can't be said that they live off overtime pay, but at least this overtime pay is very important to them.

The same applies to movie theaters; their frontline staff will absolutely refuse to work without overtime pay.

That would be a considerable expense.

It must be included in the cost.

If we in mainland China are going to adjust release schedules, let's just say we need to make the Spring Festival release schedule more competitive.

What about these costs?
If everyone can't coordinate well, even if Han Sanping is the big boss of China Film Group, the cinemas may not necessarily listen to you.

So, they put all of these together.

Aren't we making such a fuss just to give the Hong Kong film industry some benefits?

Do this...

"Boss, we've been confiding in each other for so many years, I have to say something from the bottom of my heart."

"speak."

"A small favor may be appreciated, but a large favor may breed resentment. You may be very kind to someone, but that person may not remember your kindness."

Ma Xun's words were truly... he never mentioned it, yet he never strayed from it.

After listening, Han Sanping nodded with his eyes slightly closed, and then patted Ma Xun on the shoulder, "Trust your superiors."

"understand!"

Okay, that's enough. There's no point in saying anything more.

Ma Xun could have chosen not to say anything, but it wouldn't have been good if he hadn't. What he said now was subtle yet very apt.

Good.

It's about opening up to each other.

However, Ma Xun also gained a lot from this trip to the Beijing Film Studio.

This year's Lunar New Year film season is mainly dominated by "Red Cliff".

Absolutely. Such a blockbuster has been in production for several years, so it would be unreasonable not to give it a very good release date.

However, Ma Xun was also aware that there were strong opponents this year.

Ip Man.

That's right, Master Ip's universe will begin at the end of this year.

Speaking of movies alone, the first Ip Man film was indeed very well made.

Even without the action scenes, the film has a strong sense of rhythm and a compelling story.

It's something many films could learn from.

Therefore, this is truly a formidable opponent.

But it doesn't matter, Ma Xun is still very confident in "Red Cliff".

It's at least different from the original.

These two films alone are enough to carry the entire Lunar New Year film season.

Add some other films as embellishments, and you're all set.

So, what about the upcoming Spring Festival film season?
Since Huang Baiming, a big shot, secured this Spring Festival slot, Ma Xun naturally couldn't let him take away the 'benefits' so easily.

Why don't I grab a piece of the pie during this Spring Festival season? And I'll take the big one!

It's very simple; Ma Xun immediately revealed a good hand.

Crazy Racer!
Hmm, it seems this movie was released before the Spring Festival in 09.

Never mind that, now that it's in my hands, Ma Xun, I'm determined to have a showdown with Huang Baiming's 'Happy Events' series.

Although Ning Hao, Huang Bo, and others are already quite famous, you are Huang Baiming, a big shot. You shouldn't be afraid, right?

That one sentence almost made Boss Huang lose his mind.

Of course, he still likes to laugh.

Let's compete!
So, the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival film seasons are pretty much set up.

This is naturally not the final result; this small meeting is just to set a rough outline.

But in the future, only some details can probably be changed.

Ma Xun was quite confident about these two battles.

In addition, Ma Xun managed to win by a small margin.

That is, he got a special 'schedule'.

Valentine's Day.

This year, Chinese New Year falls on January 26th, so Valentine's Day is on February 14th.
Outside of holidays, the benefits seem minimal.

But you can give it a try.

It was Yu Feihong's film, "Love Comes Again," that was arranged. With this arrangement, Ma Xun wasn't exactly heartless, right?

Saying he's loyal and righteous might be an exaggeration, but at least he's done right by Yu Feihong.

However, upon closer reflection...

The Lunar New Year film season is gradually transforming into the Spring Festival film season, which will undoubtedly present many opportunities.

To talk about this release date, we should actually start from the beginning.

When it comes to setting up schedules, we in mainland China did indeed initially learn from Hong Kong.

Many people may know about it, but they may not realize the special significance of this old film.

It's called "Chinese New Year".

As mentioned before.

That was done by the former director of Beijing Film Academy. The film has an all-star cast, and every member is good enough to be an award-winning actor or actress.

Moreover, this film was deliberately released during the Spring Festival.

Unfortunately, although I learned it, it wasn't very useful.

There really aren't many people watching movies during the Spring Festival.

Thus, the project to establish the earliest Lunar New Year film season failed.

The box office record for "Chinese New Year" refers to the recorded records.

300 million.

The box office performance was indeed quite poor, which is seriously inconsistent with the quality of the film.

Of course, it's probably also related to the content of the movie.

Although it's called "Chinese New Year," the plot of this drama is full of upsetting things.

There's one that's pretty good, the one starring Shen Junyi.

It's actually quite realistic, but it's still frustrating.

It's really inappropriate to let people watch this kind of content during the Chinese New Year.

Perhaps it was these multiple factors that led to the failure.

Now, more than a decade has passed.

If we want to establish a successful Spring Festival film season, shouldn't we...?

Just as Ma Xun was pondering these things, another phone call came in.

It turned out to be Mr. Lu.

"Mr. Ma, do you have a moment to spare?"

"Mr. Lu, of course I have time."

"Okay! Then..."

He readily agreed to meet at a certain place, but deep down he just felt...

Isn’t it too coincidental?

……

The meeting place was not Mr. Lu's company, but Wanda Plaza in the CBD.

This square is really new; it opened at the end of 06.

Needless to say, you can tell from the name that it's extremely popular.

With people coming and going, shall we meet here?

Of course it has special significance.

"Mr. Ma, what do you think of this place?"

"This……"

This Mr. Lu was quite interesting; he led Ma Xun to a certain place inside the mall.

This isn't a legitimate business place; it's still closed off.

What do you mean?
Ma Xun could tell at a glance, but he didn't say anything.

Mr. Lu became even more intrigued, pressing further, "Mr. Ma, you should be able to guess what will be opening here, right?"

This made it impossible for Ma Xun to continue pretending.

"It must be a movie theater, right?"

Let's guess.

Mr. Lu laughed heartily, “That’s right! It’s the movie theater.”

Ma Xun also revealed a smug expression; he had already figured it out in his heart.

Mr. Lu continued, “Wanda has acquired a lot of land all over the country, and more and more Wanda Plazas like this will be built. But how should such a large commercial complex be operated? It seems that there is no experience in this area before.”

Why not turn it into a movie theater?

my country's film and television industry is currently experiencing a truly booming development.

This is truly a little zebra crossing the road, doing it with great skill and understanding.

Ma Xun smiled along. He had known for a long time that Mr. Lu had a close relationship with Wanda, and that Wanda was going to start getting into the cinema chain... well, it should be said that it had already started.

We're currently in the initial stage.

But after all, there's a lot of land, and even more Wanda Plazas.

They're going all out with this!

Let's be straightforward.

"Since there will be many cinemas in the future, there will also be a need for more movies."

Ma Xun's words truly struck a chord with Mr. Lu.

"You're right!"

“Well…” Ma Xun wanted to test the waters, but Mr. Lu interrupted him.

"How about we establish a good cooperative relationship?"

"Ah, that's great, but the reason..." Ma Xun was still a little skeptical.

After all, this Mr. Lu took the initiative to come over... he was too proactive.

This can easily arouse suspicion in people.

But what Mr. Lu said next was quite interesting.

"There were rumors online that Mr. Ma had killed Huang Guangyu, haha... That's great! In short, Mr. Wang is paying close attention to this matter."

Now I understand!

Ma Xun couldn't help but recall how, a few years ago, Old Wang from Wanda Group had so humbly served tea to Huang Guangyu.

You have to understand, Old Wang wasn't young at the time.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
very good!very good!

Ma Xun's previous methods involved linking Huang Guangyu's investigation solely to himself.

And here comes the effect!

Moreover, the future changes in the Lunar New Year film season, the establishment of the Spring Festival film season...

This is a fantastic opportunity!
There are also huge profits to be made!
Of course, Wanda is also divided into many factions, making it difficult to manage.

Fortune can be found in danger!

"We have a lot of films in the lighting industry."

"it is good!"

Ma Xun shook hands with Mr. Lu.

then……

"Mr. Ma, we are preparing to shoot a historical epic called 'The Warring States'."

Good grief! Just when you're about to make a big deal out of something, you're preparing to throw in a terrible movie!

Good for you……

(End of this chapter)