1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 382: Settlement of Accounts
"This year, the company plans to release The Hiroshima Monster and The God of Gamblers during the Lunar New Year period. In fact, with the quality of Mr. Vampire: Reborn, it should also be released during the Lunar New Year period. However, it is a bit of a pity to release it during the summer period to compete with New Treasure Alliance's Poltergeist 2."

As the year is almost half over, I am stepping away from Jiuyi Culture.

Zhai Yuan returned to Jiuyi Entertainment and listened to Shi Nansheng's report on the plans for the remaining months of the year.

Since the beginning of the year, Zhai Yuan's focus has shifted away from the film business, and he has mainly concentrated on the development of Qiaozui Island and newspapers, and occasionally went to Japan to do some work.

During the past six months, Jiuyi Entertainment has been in good order under the management of Shi Nansheng and others, and it seems that it doesn't matter whether he is the boss or not.

As long as he can produce a few blockbuster films every year, he can become a very successful boss.

"In general, this year's surplus is higher than last year's. However, after the establishment of the Film Association, the funding for filmmakers has also increased. Many films cannot recover their costs and can only rely on the release of CDs. Statistics are also more difficult than before."

Shi Nansheng continued, "Not counting 30 Entertainment, this year the Film Association has produced over 12 films by independent directors, but only of them are eligible for theatrical release. The income and expenditure are barely breaking even, and the main sources of profit are still the production companies , Sanhe, and New One City."

Zhai Yuan flipped through the films produced by independent directors of the Film Association. Most of the profitable ones were Category III films, full of pornographic, bloody and violent elements.

"This is not bad. At least the source material is stable and 1024 is not a glass line anymore."

Zhai Yuan turned to look at the theater manager Qian Maosheng and asked with a smile, "Your business should be good this year."

Qian Maosheng nodded with a smile: "Starting from February, there are new movies released every week on 2. Basically, Hong Kong movie fans now have a consensus that if you want to watch new movies, you can go to those movie enthusiasts. Sometimes they can sit in the theater for a whole day and watch three new movies in a row. Although the quality of the movies varies, the number of customers is gradually increasing."

Cinemas do not make money solely from selling movie tickets; snacks and drinks are even more important profit points. Otherwise, it would be difficult to maintain the monthly expenditure costs of hundreds of thousands.

Especially since 1024 is a mini cinema with more screens, the electricity bill is also much higher than other cinemas.

But the theaters and production companies combined.

It is also not as good as the sales of VCDs and CDs this year.

"VCD sales in Japan have opened up this year. After America obtained the patent, it was distributed to other parts of North America. Currently, home videotapes are no longer the first choice for consumers. Although it's not the New Year yet, the overseas patent fees and commissions can be roughly calculated. Why don't you guess how much Qvod will earn this year?"

In the tea room of Jiuyi Entertainment, Guan Weiming, the person in charge of Kuaibo, kept the secret and took a sip of tea slowly.

"Looking at Manager Guan's confident expression, I know Qvod is making a lot of money this year."

Shi Nansheng smiled and said, according to the net profit of Jiuyi Entertainment in the first ten months, it doubled up: "It should be over 100 million, right?"

Qian Maosheng's 1024 earned more than the production company, and its business was a bit bigger: "One machine sold for over yuan on the market, and with the CDs included, that would bring in to million yuan a year."

Guan Weiming gave a noncommittal smile, looking unfathomable.

He immediately turned to look at Zhai Yuan, his smile becoming flattering: "Mr. Zhai, can I tell you this secret?"

"You said it would be in the newspaper in a few months." Zhai Yuan said with a smile, "Jiuyi Entertainment is preparing for an IPO. We need to let everyone see our strength before the listing."

Guan Weiming nodded in understanding after hearing this. The Kuaibo, which he was in charge of, would not be merged into the Jiuyi Entertainment Group, but letting the outside world know about the cash cow behind the major shareholder was also a means to boost market confidence.

"Manager Qian's guess of 200 to 300 million is actually about right." Guan Weiming grinned and added, "But this is only for sales in Hong Kong."

"We calculated the sales of VCDs in Hong Kong this year. From the beginning of the year to now, the factory has shipped 12 machines. After deducting the cost, the company's account is about million Hong Kong dollars. Adding the sales and rental business of CDs, it will easily exceed million by the end of the year."

"Toyo's current distributor is Toshiba Home Appliances. Currently, the retail sales have reached 70 units. According to the rules, for every VCD produced, they have to pay Qvod 15% of the cost and a fee of US$0.1. No need to count on your fingers, I'll tell you directly, it's also more than million Hong Kong dollars, plus the discs, it starts at million~"

"Five hundred million? More than that! Although home video tapes are still the mainstream in America, Disney and others have promoted them, and they've sold over a hundred thousand VCDs this year. Statistics overseas are too complicated, and the foreigners are sneaky and underreport sales. In short, Qvod has earned over a hundred million Hong Kong dollars from North America."

After the sales channels gradually expanded, Kuaibo's money bag finally began to work.

Zhai Yuan listened with a smile. Obviously he knew this set of data in advance and was not surprised.

The total amount of Hong Kong, Japan and America on the books this year is almost HK$600 million.

Six hundred million!

Shi Nansheng and Qian Maosheng looked at each other, and the same idea came to their minds at the same time.

Making movies is a dead end!
Shi Nansheng sighed, "I've chosen the wrong career! I was also a top student who studied at North London Polytechnic University. If I had known that I could engage in technology research and development, I might have invented a sharp product. Why did I choose to make movies?"

"Sister Nan, the Hong Kong film industry will lose a lot of its luster without a heroine like you~"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "Although Kuaibo makes more money, your annual salary is about the same as Lao Guan's. Doesn't it make you feel better if you think about it this way?"

Guan Weiming's smile froze and he suddenly reacted.

That’s right! What does it have to do with me if Qvod makes hundreds of millions? The money is all taken away by the big boss!

"I'm very open-minded. You two were just managers of an independent theater at first, but now you're in charge of 1024 theaters. When you're middle-aged, you still have the opportunity to be promoted from a water ghost to a city god. Isn't it all thanks to Mr. Zhai's promotion? You should learn to be content with what you have~"

Qian Maosheng was very sensible and started to flatter the emperor.

Zhai Yuan nodded in agreement, looked at Qian Maosheng and said, "Well said. Since you are content, I won't give you this year's year-end bonus."

Qian Maosheng: “…”…

Compared with other industries, entertainment is probably the least profitable.

Throughout history, there has never been a story of an entertainment tycoon becoming the richest man.

But this industry happens to have a huge impact. If there were no entertainment industry, Qvod's VCDs and optical discs would not even have a market, and naturally they would not be able to become Zhai Yuan's money bag.

"We still have to lay this foundation so that we can build on it."

Having Shi Nansheng and Qian Maosheng go out to work first, Zhai Yuan left Guan Weiming alone and said with a smile, "Mr. Finance, the roller coaster on Qiaozui Island is halfway finished, and two new projects are being prepared for construction: a children's playground and a dinosaur park. Both are quite expensive, so I need you to come up with 20 million for an emergency."

The construction of Jurassic Park on Sharp Island is progressing very slowly. Construction materials for the development of outlying islands have to be transported by water, and it has only now taken shape.

Guan Weiming nodded and said, "I understand. The resort hotel built on the island was also registered under Kuaibo. I will contact Xu Jiaqiang and the others directly later."

"Yeah." Zhai Yuan smiled. "Also, I need to put out another 300 million yuan myself to prepare for the future listing of the entertainment group. Is that a problem?"

Guan Weiming roughly calculated the subsequent costs and labor maintenance, and made sure that withdrawing this money would not cause the production line to stop.

Then he nodded again and said, "No problem. The research and development of the new chip is now in Japan. Qvod doesn't have a lot of cash flow to use, so squeezing out 400 million will be enough."

"Then it's 400 million." Zhai Yuan was not polite at all and transferred the money from Kuaibo into his own account.

The 1024 million plus the principal in the account, Entertainment and profits.

Zhai Yuandong scraped together another 10 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash.

Although it is not as good as the more than 10 billion that Li Chaoren raised easily, it is enough to cope with the upcoming stock market crash.

…………

10 month 14 day.

After passing the waste management amendment bill, the Legislative Council required a ban on raising livestock in urban areas and that garbage be discharged and disposed of in designated areas.

Thousands of farmers were dissatisfied that day and protested outside the Legislative Council.

This hot event, which deserves full-page news coverage, was only briefly mentioned in the September 1st Daily News in Hong Kong.

After all, we are wearing the same pants now, so we have to save face for the gentlemen in the Legislative Council.

The major news was replaced by an exclusive interview with candidate Situ Mingzhu.

Specially invited reporter Li Yunqin had a question-and-answer session with Situ Mingzhu in the newspaper.

The topic revolved around Hong Kong's social welfare system. He believed that the current civil servants' salaries were too low and that Comprehensive Social Security Assistance was not enough to help the lower-class citizens. He believed that the Legislative Council should pass regulations to allow the Hong Kong government to spend a lot of money to improve the treatment of civil servants and related welfare systems. If he was elected, he would promote the implementation of the regulations.

"It sounds like a pie in the sky. Are the salaries of civil servants not high enough now? Although I have never received CSSA, I heard that billions of dollars are spent every year, and they are going to continue to increase? It turns out that the Hong Kong government is so rich."

After Situ Mingzhu's interview was published in the newspaper, he immediately received support from a large number of citizens.

However, some people suspect that this is just a pie in the sky to win votes.

For example, Xu Laoguai who just returned from Japan.

"Hiroshima Monster" was released in Japan, and Xu Qi and his team stayed there until the box office statistics were released. They also held a celebration banquet locally and participated in invitation-based activities by theater chains. They were so busy until now that they finally returned to Hong Kong.

After chatting with Zhai Yuan for a few words, Old Xu picked up today's newspaper interview and started commenting on it.

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "It might not be just empty talk. Perhaps Councillor Situ is truly dedicated to the people."

Xu Qi sighed, "The annual expenditure of the Hong Kong government is too high."

Zhai Yuan smiled and nodded in agreement.

He didn't think Situ Mingzhu was just making empty promises. Based on his experience, he knew that the other party would definitely do this.

Raising wages and improving social welfare definitely sounds like a good thing.

But this matter was not mentioned in the past few decades, and the intention of doing so is too obvious when the return is imminent.

In the words of Elsie Tu: "In the 1960s and 1970s, when corruption was rampant in Hong Kong and citizens were so poor they couldn't even get enough to eat, everyone disappeared. Now that things have finally settled down, a group of democrats have suddenly emerged. What do you want to do?"

In addition to winning over the hearts of the people and making everyone from civil servants to citizens miss the kindness of the foreigners, after the return, all financial pressure can be directly transferred to the foreigners, and any attempt to cut their salaries or even not increase their salaries will cause complaints.

Just routine operations before the end of the colony.

(End of this chapter)