Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 653 Ma Xun earns one hundred million US dollars first! Jia Yueting suffers another heavy blow!
"I'm finally sure this time."

"decide what?"

"China's film market does indeed have great potential."

“Oh, David, what do you mean by that…”

"Mr. Ma, you are indeed clever."

"Are you saying that our bet, the box office revenue from the Chinese market, should be excluded?"

"As expected of Mr. Ma."

David Ellison, as the son of the Oracle owner, is certainly not lacking in intelligence.

His love for movies is probably one of his weaknesses.

But when it comes to this bet, this guy is definitely very clear-headed.

Although "The Forbidden Kingdom" is a co-production, the screenwriter, director, and even the funding mainly came from overseas.

Does co-production count? Yes, it does.

However, with the Wong brothers as the main investors at the time, it was already certain that Hollywood would take the lead in this film project.

That's right, it was the Wang brothers who ruined the foundation of this project.

It's incredibly difficult for us to get back on track.

There's really no way around it. On one hand, the US has already taken the lead, and on the other hand, another major investor in this film is the company that Jackie Chan and Jet Li formed.

This is definitely a super-large project, but precisely because of this, the funding structure is extremely complex.

To put it bluntly, it's only because Ma Xun is very shrewd that he was able to get a share of the profits from this movie.

Currently, it's clear that many people are eyeing this lucrative opportunity.

Ma Xun will likely receive about 5% of the profits from this film, which is basically from the box office in mainland China.

The rest belong to other people.

The rest of the mainland side belongs to Huayi, which is now owned by Jia Yueting and others, along with other bosses.

In Hong Kong, it belongs to Mr. Yang. Ma Xun can collect some, but not much. Of course, there's also the cinema chain portion of Golden Harvest.

The other aspect, of course, is overseas revenue. After all, this is an American company, so they will definitely want North American box office revenue and various copyright revenues.

To be fair, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are definitely the most bankable Chinese stars at the international box office right now.

Currently, the American company that is primarily responsible for this film is already fully committed to its promotion.

But smart people will understand.

Both of these kung fu superstars are still primarily based in China.

David made those demands simply to increase his chances of winning.

How will Ma Xun deal with David's seemingly 'unreasonable' request?
“David, your request doesn’t seem to have any major problems to me, but…”

The "but" is clearly the key point.

However, David was indeed shrewd, and he immediately interrupted Ma Xun, saying, "Haha... Don't worry about that. How about this, I heard that Mr. Ma's company in the United States also has plans to go public. Why don't we take a look?"

Hey, this guy's got some skills.

However, Ma Xun said, "That's Jiahe and..."

David interrupted him again, "Oh, Mr. Ma, there's no need to explain this anymore, we all understand."

Wow, this guy came prepared.

Ma Xun laughed and said, "Okay! Then I have no problem. We can exclude the box office revenue from mainland China."

His straightforwardness made David laugh heartily. "Alright, I plan to invest one hundred million US dollars in Mr. Ma's company in the United States!"

Goodness, no wonder he's a top-tier rich kid!

This guy spends a hundred million dollars in one go.

Ma Xun also put forward his own conditions: "We plan to operate the company as a partnership."

This is for David to hear.

The partnership system is quite complicated when explained in detail, but simply put, it means that you only receive a share of the profits, but we have the final say in the company's operations.

It's similar to the model that Taobao later used when it went public in the United States.

David was a smart man; he understood immediately.

"But I think there are some... you know, like film IP collaborations or something."

Oh, this one.

"no problem."

Ma Xun immediately agreed, because it was a good thing.

David likes movies mainly because he likes IPs that evoke childhood memories, such as Transformers and G.I. Joe.

These movies were all animated films when I was a kid.

He clearly wants to find an opportunity to do it himself, maybe even get the IP of these films from Paramount.

Because Paramount probably won't easily let this guy become a shareholder.

That's right, Ma Xun knew that more than a decade later, David would invest $80 billion to take over Paramount, but in reality, he would only acquire at most half of the shares.

In other words, Paramount still doesn't really want to sell itself.

Some people might think that these film companies will lose money in a decade or so.
wrong!
Losing money is just for show.

Just like Warner Bros., many of the movies they released later were money-losing one after another.

The key point is that the projects that lost money were all large projects, each of which could have been allocated several hundred million US dollars.

But why doesn't Warner go bankrupt?

They have the IP address!

In a country with very strict intellectual property protection, once you have a lot of IP, you can make money even without lifting a finger.

Therefore, Warner's annual reports are actually not bad, so why would they go bankrupt?

Now Ma Xun is even more certain that David must have his eye on the IP held by his American company.

Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, Cloverfield, and many more.

These are all sure-fire hit IPs for the future.

This year marks the sixth installment of the "Saw" series.

What we're saying is, we'll release the final installment, a grand finale, a major revelation, and after all the mysteries are solved.

Let's lie low for a few years and then reboot!

Yes! That solves it!
Later on, Marvel and DC did the same thing.

Of course, DC is Warner Bros., and they've rebooted the universe countless times.

It seems like every time it fails, and it sounds like every time it results in a loss of money.

But we should think about why it needs to be restarted.

To put it bluntly, they make money!

Returning to our bet, Ma Xun and David have finalized all the details.

So……

"Wish us happy cooperation!"

"Okay! Cheers!"

Goodness, this doesn't look like a bet at all; there's not a trace of spite involved.

When Xiaoran saw this, she was naturally relieved.

Moreover, after she and others learned David's identity... wow.

I think Brother Ma is really amazing!
However, this bet doesn't include domestic bets; it only includes bets made overseas.

Brother Ma is too confident, isn't he?
Xiao Ran is indeed fierce, but she's not brainless.

She had heard that Dragon Ball was coming on strong, and it was truly a childhood memory for her.

This comic is incredibly popular; I've heard it's a globally legendary IP.

And now it's being made into a movie, and the company is a super giant like 20th Century Fox.

It looks amazing no matter how you look at it!

It's important to know that, on the surface, "The Forbidden Kingdom" is only a Lionsgate production.

Lionsgate, to be precise, is a Canadian company.

However, their headquarters are indeed in Los Angeles, specifically in the well-known Santa Monica district.

It's the end of the road where Forrest Gump kept running, that door full of neon lights.

Yes, that's Santa Monica.

However, Lionsgate is no match for 20th Century Fox.

So, no matter how you look at it, Dragon Ball has a better chance of winning.

Since Brother Ma is so confident, Xiao Ran will definitely support him without hesitation!
Hmm, dressed up as cheerleaders to dance and cheer on Brother Ma?

Xiao Ran's idea is a bit... When she jumped, those two... cough cough.

The scene must be absolutely amazing!

……

On Ma Xun's side, the open bet was surprisingly harmonious.

But some people didn't bet with him at all, yet the atmosphere is now very tense.

"The Forbidden Kingdom is currently a very strong film in China, and its box office performance is promising..."

A meeting is being held at Huayi Company.

After all, the film "The Forbidden Kingdom" ultimately belongs to them.

In addition, although the Wang brothers are in jail, Huayi Brothers is still operating.

Currently, Jia Yueting is in charge, along with some other business owners from the industry.

The person giving the report is Li Xue, who is currently still in contact with Hua Yi.

But it's nothing, this state is actually quite good.

Li Xue's report was very detailed. To summarize, the industry has high expectations for the film's box office performance.

To be honest, these things don't need to be reported at all.

The film features two superstar martial arts actors, and also stars rising star Jing Tian.

In addition, Li Xue's sister plays one of the villains, and there's also Chang Wei...

This film can't possibly be bad.

But hearing all this only made Jia Yueting more and more upset.

Logically speaking, Jia Yueting should be happy.

Because this movie is also considered his.

But now, he is... this movie is also Ma Xun's!

Faced with such a dilemma...

Zhang Zhao glanced at him... Hmm? Did he have something to say?
"Let's stop here for now and study it further."

After he said that, no one else had anything to say.

While the others went to investigate, Zhang Zhao followed Jia Yueting into the office that originally belonged to the Wang brothers.

Hey! The Wang brothers' office is decorated really well.

The style is... the style of the Forbidden City!

You can probably imagine it now that I've explained it like that.

These two are really daring!

Li Xue naturally witnessed this scene.

Enter the office.

Zhang Zhao immediately got to the point, "Boss, I have some important news."

"Say it."

"The prince of Oracle Bone Script has arrived in the capital."

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Yueting's face lit up with joy.

Don't forget, Jia Yueting's current label is IT elite, his idol is Steve Jobs, but he also worships Oracle.

How could one not be excited upon hearing such news?

Jia Yueting even fantasized that the young master of Oracle Bone Script had suddenly come to Beijing to cooperate with their Leshi.

But Zhang Zhao's next sentence was:

"This young master went to Guangming."

"what?!"

It’s just that!

Jia Yueting felt like she had suffered a heavy blow!

Zhang Zhao had no idea what his boss was fantasizing about. What he said was the truth. So, seeing the changes in his boss's expression, Zhang Zhao was completely bewildered.

What's wrong with this guy?
It took Jia Yueting a while to recover. "What did they talk about?"

Zhang Zhao couldn't say anything, of course. "It's not clear yet, but there's an insider who said they seem to be making a bet."

"bet?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Yueting perked up.

"Definitely is……"

"Yes, The Forbidden Kingdom and Dragon Ball!"

This is easy to think of, since these are the two films that are about to be released.

However, while this can be confirmed, other details cannot.

So, what exactly was the content of the bet between Oracle Prince and Ma Xun...?

In fact, even now, Jia Yueting doesn't know who the Oracle Bone Script Prince is, or even what his name is.

That's normal, since even in Hollywood, David is often treated as just an ordinary extra.

He may be rich, but he's not stupid; he knows how to conceal his identity.

However, Jia Yueting was now convinced that her thoughts were definitely aligned with those of this Oracle Bone Script Prince!

"Then we absolutely must destroy 'The Forbidden Kingdom'!"

Zhang Zhao was taken aback by Jia Yueting's words.

"Boss, but this is our movie."

Yes, we get a share of the money too!
But Jia Yueting is acting like a madwoman now, "So what? It wasn't my investment to begin with. It's all the fault of those two idiots in the Wang family for having such bad taste!"

To be fair, there's nothing wrong with Jia Yueting's statement.

Jia Yueting essentially inherited Huayi's legacy; he had no real connection to these projects themselves.

Zhang Zhao thought about it and agreed, but then he added something extra.

"Boss, if many projects run into problems, can Huayi still go public?"

Right!

That's absolutely right.

In order to make Huayi go public, the Wang brothers specially established a new company and put many high-quality projects into the new company.

The Forbidden Kingdom is one of them.

It took a lot of effort to finally bring it into your hands, Jia Yueting.

Is this how you're going to do it?

Jia Yueting did hesitate after hearing this, but then he thought, "That's the Oracle Bone Script Prince... I'll lick it!"
Oh no, I mean help!
"Old Zhang, you need to understand one thing: Dragon Ball is doing really well right now, and we're just getting paid for promotion and distribution."

You know, that makes sense.

But Zhang Zhao naturally understood Jia Yueting's thoughts. "Boss, I will do my best to help you contact that Oracle Bone Script Prince."

Hearing this, Jia Yueting was greatly relieved!

"Old Zhang! We've both thought of the same thing!"

You understand me so well!

Zhang Zhao was naturally pleased, and what he said was not just idle talk.

It's worth noting that Zhang Zhao was previously a government-sponsored student studying abroad, and he had considerable connections in the United States and among overseas students.

So, he really can handle this.

But these two movies right now... well, let's just go along with the boss's wishes.

And just like that, "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Dragon Ball" were released!

Both films were also released overseas, particularly in North America, Japan, and Europe.

In particular, "Dragon Ball" had a much wider release, practically a global release.

Actually, not that many "The Forbidden Kingdom" movies were released.

However, in this way...

The word-of-mouth for "Dragon Ball" came out very quickly.

Most people generally believe that this movie is...

Rubbish!

It's still a huge pile of garbage!

(End of this chapter)