Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 607 The Impact of the Release of "Jungle Bully"
At this time, the summer season has already begun in North America. As the most popular Lin Yuan movie, "Jungle Bully" naturally took the brunt of the responsibility of taking the lead.

Most of the film companies tacitly gave their film schedules to "Jungle Bully".

All things are difficult at the beginning. After several months of the off-season for movies, it will not be easy to restart the hot movie market during the peak season.

Letting "Jungle Bully" be released first can heat up the market and reawaken the habit of a large number of audiences to go to the cinema to watch movies, which is also very beneficial for the movies released later.

As for Lin Yuan being unable to participate in the film's premiere and promotion due to filming in the Yala Snow Mountain, it is not a big problem.

Because when Lin Yuan's previous films were released, he mostly did not participate in the film's roadshow promotions. Holding a grand press conference in Chang'an like "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" was an exception.

Anyway, "Lin Yuan Movie" is already the biggest selling point. Fans around the world will consciously go to the cinema to watch it. It doesn't matter whether Lin Yuan participates in the promotion.

So director Eastwood chose to schedule the release of the film immediately after editing it.

The release of the movie at this time can take advantage of the two recent hot topics, "Oscar scandal" and "Kalonos Cave Rescue Operation", which have not yet faded, and let the movie's box office performance take advantage of it.

Charlize naturally knew the above situation. She began to quickly look through the materials given to her by GAKKI-chan, extracting key information from them, and then reporting to Lin Yuan.

During the time when GAKKI-chan was busy in Japan, Charlize also briefly worked as Lin Yuan's assistant.

Therefore, she is now back to her old job without any sense of unfamiliarity.

The information was not thick, only about ten pages, and she quickly read it from beginning to end with the sound of flipping through the pages.

As she watched, she showed an expression of surprise and an uncontrollable smile.

Lin Yuan looked at Charlize's smile. The curve of her upturned mouth was so beautiful.

"As far as I know, you guys play a guessing game on every movie that comes out?" Charlize asked.

"Well, but I don't want to play this time." Lin Yuan spread his hands.

"Why? I just joined and you're destroying the tradition. Are you excluding me in disguise?" Charlize protested dissatisfiedly.

Lin Yuan smiled and hugged her: "Don't think too much, it's just that there's no suspense about the box office this time, so I'm too lazy to guess."

"No suspense?" Charlize asked.

"Well, 'Jungle Bully' is a relatively niche film. If it weren't for my recent popularity, it would be quite good to have a box office of $13 billion.

Now it seems unlikely that it will beat The Heroes of Tang Dynasty. It should be higher than The King of Spy, somewhere in between the two," said Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan discussed this box office result with director Eastwood before the film was officially released.

Although "Jungle Bully" is also very outstanding, with several real-life scenes of fighting animals that are unprecedented in film history, if it wants to compete for a ranking on the movie box office list, its competitors are also movies starring Lin Yuan.

"The Jungle Bully" is certainly great, but "The King of Spy", "The Legend of Tang Dynasty", "Lin Yuan and His Wife", "Pirates of the Caribbean"...which of these movies was not made by Lin Yuan at the risk of his life?
"Jungle Bully" is inherently weak in terms of subject matter, but with Lin Yuan's recent popularity and public favorability, it is already a very good result to surpass "The King of Spy Wars".

But it is definitely impossible to win over "The Legend of Tang Dynasty", which has the advantage of time, place and people, and is the largest and most expensive film among Lin Yuan's own films.

Hearing Lin Yuan's words, Charlize said in surprise: "I haven't told you the results yet, but you already know it. No wonder you said there is no suspense."

"I'm a failure as a temporary secretary. I can't bring any surprises to the boss." Charlize complained.

"There's no surprise, but I still like to hear the good news of making money. Tell me, how much money did we make this time?" Lin Yuan asked.

"The film's opening weekend is expected to be $1 million in North America," Charlize said.

Lin Yuan nodded, it was completely expected.

Although it is not as high as the record-breaking $1 million of "The Legend of Tang Dynasty", it is still much more than the $8800 million of "The King of Spy".

However, considering that the first-week box office of "The King of Spy" was due to the fact that the screening rate was not high enough, in the end, although "The Jungle Bully" may have a higher box office than "The King of Spy", it is impossible to crush it by a huge margin.

"What are the global box office forecasts and profit forecasts?" Lin Yuan asked.

This is the most crucial information, which is related to whether Lin Yuan can continue his box office myth and bring sufficient profits to all his partners.

"The global box office is expected to be 33.23 billion US dollars, and the box office profit is expected to be 16 billion US dollars." Charlize said excitedly, holding up the paper in her hand.

This was her first time to participate in in-depth communication on the box office performance of Lin Yuan's films. Although she had seen the financial report before, Charlize still felt unbelievable when such high profits were presented to her.

This year, Linyuan Pictures has been responsible for both production and distribution of every film produced, so it has already reached a fixed ratio with all parties regarding the box office revenue:

Because of his strong bargaining power, Lin Yuan can basically get 60% of the box office revenue for the movies he starred in himself.

For other films produced by Linyuan Pictures, the box office fluctuates around 50%, depending on the production investment and the status of the production staff.

Therefore, a box office of $33 billion means that "Jungle Bully" will bring $20 billion in revenue to Linyuan Pictures.

After deducting $2 million in production costs and $2 million in publicity and promotion expenses, the final gross profit was around $16 billion.

This result made Lin Yuan quite satisfied!

Comparing Lin Yuan’s previous film box office results, the highest performance is of course "The Legend of Tang Dynasty", which has the right time, place and people, with a box office of 40.16 billion US dollars.

The second is "The King of Spy", which achieved $23.76 billion.

Ranked third is "Lin Yuan and His Wife", with a score of 17.1 billion US dollars.

These are the top three in Lin Yuan’s film box office in the past, and they also happen to be the top three in the global film box office list.

Lin Yuan’s movies in recent years have been a hit, completely dominating the movie box office charts.

It is worth mentioning that the fourth place is still Lin Yuan’s movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", with a box office of 16.7 billion US dollars.

After Lin Yuan faded out of the film, the box office performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" immediately dropped to 10.2 billion US dollars.

Although the box office barely maintained above 10 billion US dollars and is still considered a super hit movie, it can be clearly seen how great Lin Yuan's appeal is.

For Lin Yuan, dominating the box office charts and dominating the box office charts for a long time is no longer just a personal honor, but also an important part of creating Lin Yuan's movie box office myth.

Only if he firmly holds the rankings can he establish himself as a box office legend, which is very important for the investors who support him behind the scenes.

But Lin Yuan knew that his desire to dominate the box office charts was not without challenges.

For example, in a few years, "Avatar" will hit the market with a box office of 29.3 billion US dollars.

There are several other films in later generations that have also had very competitive box office, including: "Avengers 4: Endgame" with a box office of 27.97 billion US dollars, the re-release of "Titanic" with a box office of 24 billion US dollars, and "Avatar 2: The Way of Water" with a box office of 23.16 billion US dollars.

Therefore, it is probably not possible to maintain the top three positions in the box office chart relying solely on the previous three films: "The Legend of Tang Dynasty", "The King of Spy Wars" and "The Lin Yuan Couple".

However, after "The Jungle Book" squeezed into the second place in the current box office rankings with a box office of 33.23 billion US dollars, he also has "The King's Avatar 2" currently being filmed.

Then it is entirely possible to establish an unshakable box office iron triangle, completely lock the box office charts, and make all later peers feel despair.

"I am quite satisfied with the performance of 'Jungle Bully'." Lin Yuan said happily.

It can be said that he has gained both fame and fortune. Not only did he make his name on the box office charts, but the huge profit of $16 billion also meant that his cash flow became more abundant.

"Well, 'Jungle Bully' not only made amazing profits, but also brought even more amazing returns to the company in the capital market. This is the report compiled by Betty, you can take a look." Charlize handed over a separate page of paper.

Lin Yuan took it, took a look and was quite surprised:

Linyuan Pictures' stock price has broken through $40 and is currently at $41.32!

This was beyond Lin Yuan's imagination.

Lin Yuan recalled the stock price fluctuations of Lin Yuan Pictures since its listing, and found that he was really always in the limelight.

Back then, the stock price of Linyuan Pictures was $14 when it went public.

However, with the huge positive impact of the premiere of "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" when it went public, Lin Yuan Pictures' stock price reached a high of US$23.9 on the first day of listing, making him the world's richest man.

For a long time afterwards, the company's stock price fluctuated between US$20 and US$30, but the overall stock price was steadily rising.

During that period, Lin Yuan also clearly saw the risk of the company's stock price bubble, and worried that if this risk was exploited by competitors, the stock price collapse would harm the interests of a large number of investors who trusted and had good intentions towards Lin Yuan.

Therefore, after the stock price of Linyuan Pictures exceeded US$30, Lin Yuan and Betty developed a detailed plan to take the initiative to suppress the stock price and slowly digest the bubble.

The effect of suppressing the stock price was very obvious at first, and the stock price quickly fell back to around US$21, and even fell below the pressure level of US$20 at one point.

However, as a star enterprise loved by countless fans around the world, Linyuan Pictures' stock price was bought up by fans who flocked in crazily after it hit a low of $21.

The stock price entered an upward trend again, and Betty complained to Lin Yuan many times about this: "In all my years in the industry, I've never encountered a company whose stock price is so difficult to suppress. Investors are rushing into the market despite all the negative news. The stock price is like a spring; it rebounds as soon as the suppressive force is removed."

In this regard, Lin Yuan could only sigh helplessly that everyone's kindness was really a bit heavy.

Before Lin Yuan entered the Kalonos Cave, the stock price of Lin Yuan Pictures was $28.

Although this price is not the highest in history, it is still in the high range.

It is precisely because of this that the Mellon Group entered the market with full confidence and targeted the stock price of Linyuan Pictures.

After all, your stock price is so high, and there is such a sudden bad news, how can the stock price not collapse?
The advantage is mine!

Everyone knows what happened later.

The largest retail investor vs. institutional investor war in history broke out, but Linyuan Pictures' stock price not only did not collapse, but instead rose by 30% against the trend.

It went from $28 to $36.

This crazy rise directly caused several large institutions controlled by the Mellon Group to go bankrupt and lose all their money.

It greatly helped Lin Yuan to achieve a counterattack in the capital market.

Originally, at this point in the plot, the stock price of Linyuan Pictures should have entered a downward channel.

After all, fans around the world initially entered the market with the goal of supporting Lin Yuan. Now that their goal has been achieved and they have made a lot of profit, it is time to sell their stocks and cash out.

In this case, as the selling volume increases significantly, the stock price should naturally continue to fall. This is also an opportunity to release risks and reduce the bubble.

But unexpectedly, "Jungle Bully" was released right after that!
As a result, the stock price of Linyuan Pictures rose again as if it had been injected with chicken blood.

Not only did it break through the resistance level of $40, but it also reached a price of $41.32, standing firmly above $40.

This performance was like a slap in the face to many stock analysts.

Previously, the entire stock commentary community unanimously stated that Linyuan Pictures' valuation was too high and posed significant risks, and that shareholders were advised to reduce their holdings to avoid risks.

But I didn’t expect that the stock price of Linyuan Pictures would be so unreasonable and completely unpredictable.

Instead of falling, it continued to strengthen and broke through the $40 mark.

This really stirred up a hornet's nest.

Countless investors who listened to the experts' advice and sold their stocks early stood up and scolded those so-called stock analysts.

These days, the Internet is full of battle manifestos against stock analysts.

Lin Yuan looked at the news Betty had compiled. Just by looking at the headlines, he could sense the turmoil in the stock market investment circle:
"Expert? My dog ​​can predict better than you!"

"XXX, what kind of expert are you? How can you pay me back for the money I missed out on?"

You can always trust Yuanshen, long-term value investment, the core asset of the new era!

Hold on to the Source God and retire 20 years early!

Lin Yuan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry about the turmoil in the capital market.

This once again proves the chaos of the capital market and tells everyone that stock trading is really no different from gambling.

As the actual controller of Linyuan Pictures, he owns more than 66.7% of the shares, which can be said to be an absolute controlling stake in the company.

At the same time, he also has all the inside information of the company, and he knows exactly which movies will be released and the profit prospects.

But even in this situation, Lin Yuan found that he still could not predict the company's short-term stock price trend.

He really couldn't imagine where those "investors" who used several times or even ten times leverage to trade stocks got the courage from.
This is really a gamble with one's life. If you win, it's the club, but if you lose, it's probably not going fishing, but the cool breeze on the rooftop...

It is precisely because of this that Lin Yuan needs to take the initiative many times to suppress his company's stock price, otherwise the consequences of a stock price collapse will be too serious.

Of course, if you are willing to hold the stock price of Lin Yuan Pictures for a long time and become a value investor, then Lin Yuan is very supportive.

He had previously given director Nolan an equity incentive plan and warned director Nolan not to sell the stock unless the stock price exceeded $60.

In his mind, Linyuan Pictures' stock price could rise to $75 or even higher.

But these are goals that can only be achieved in several years, and they still seem very far away now.

"This is the equity restructuring proposal of Linyuan Pictures, also submitted by Betty. Take a look." Charlize handed over another document.

"Proposal for equity restructuring?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

"Well, this is just a preliminary idea. Betty wants to wait until you give a definite answer before considering the next step." Charlize asked.

"Do you know what this is?" Lin Yuan asked with a smile.

"Stop looking down on me! I've received basic financial training from Betty. I don't understand things that are too profound, but I do understand basic things like corporate equity restructuring," Charlize protested.

"So what do you think of this plan?" Lin Yuan asked again.

“The direction is definitely right, and I think this must be done, and it must be done as soon as possible.

However, when it comes to the specific targets of the equity issuance, careful consideration is required.

If the target list is not handled properly, it may bring a lot of trouble to the company." Charlize said.

"Another drawback is that once the restructuring is complete, we'll be put on a leash to some extent. We must do our utmost to maintain the company's business, otherwise we'll face pressure from shareholders." Charlize continued, "Therefore, the final decision on what to do must be made by you personally."

Charlize's performance made Lin Yuan very satisfied. It seems that in order to better help herself, she is constantly learning and improving herself.

Betty had already mentioned this equity restructuring proposal to him before.

That was before Lin Yuan went to Kisangani to film, and they had just completed the first share price suppression of Lin Yuan Pictures.

At that time, Betty pointed out that the current equity structure of Linyuan Pictures was unhealthy.

In order to ensure his absolute control over the company, Lin Yuan alone holds more than 66.7% of the company's shares.

This is also the biggest reason why Lin Yuan can become the world's richest man. After all, Lin Yuan Pictures is a super large company with a market value of more than 2000 billion US dollars. He alone holds 66.7% of the company's shares, so of course his wealth is huge.

But compared with other giant companies, whether it is Bill Gates, Bezos, or even Musk later, the shareholding ratio in the companies they control does not exceed 5%.

It’s not that they don’t want to hold more shares in the company, but in the process of the company’s development, they have gone through rounds of financing and gradually distributed the company’s shares in exchange for the support of enough influential bigwigs, which has allowed them to reach this point.

But Lin Yuan's situation is too special.

During the listing process of Linyuan Pictures, he almost relied on his undisputed film appeal to carve out a path for himself, without relying too much on capital.

Therefore, he did not distribute many shares, so that the vast majority of shares were held in his hands alone.

This situation arose not because Lin Yuan was unwilling to share the profits, but because he was worried that while distributing the shares, he would also lose absolute control of the company.

This is something Lin Yuan absolutely cannot accept. He doesn't want a day when what he says will be challenged by others within the company.

However, not distributing more benefits and eating all the profits alone will indeed arouse envy. If Lin Yuan wants to continue to expand his business empire, he must introduce more allies. Otherwise, when facing the confrontation between top conglomerates, he will be defeated by absolute strength because of his weak strength.

This seems to be a dilemma: having to distribute benefits but losing autonomy.

Betty's suggestion for this dilemma is simple: carry out equity split reform and change the company's equity into preferred stock and common stock.

Common stock means that common stockholders have voting rights in company decisions and can participate in major company decisions and the selection of managers. They have the right to vote for board members and vote on major decisions at shareholder meetings.

Preferred stockholders generally do not have voting rights and cannot participate in the company's daily operations and management or vote at shareholders' meetings. However, they enjoy priority in dividends.

It can be simply and roughly understood that preferred shareholders do not care about the company's operations, they only care about getting the money first.

Common shareholders need to manage the company and have a say in the company.

Samsung Group, or many large companies, have such a shareholding structure.

If such an equity reform is carried out, the result will be that as long as Lin Yuan holds enough common stock, he will be able to maintain absolute control over the company.

As for preferred stock, since it does not involve the control of the company, it can be issued to allies and supporters whom he wants to win over.

Doing so is naturally correct in terms of direction and must be achieved as soon as possible.

But as Charlize said, there are two major drawbacks:
The first question is, of course, to whom these restructured and newly issued preferred shares should be given. This involves the question of who is the friend Lin Yuan needs.

Lin Yuan had already made up his mind about this.

A great man once taught us: Make as many friends as possible and strive for all the power you can.

For Lin Yuan, the supporters behind him must not be limited to the North American consortium represented by Betty.

Instead, we should fully introduce strong investors from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Europe, and even Africa, all of whom are his helpers and supporters.

Therefore, it is crucial to use this equity restructuring to tie them together and form a community of interests.

Another disadvantage is that what is distributed is the equity of preferred shares, which do not have voting rights in the company.

Then the shareholders holding preferred shares, that is, the group of people that Lin Yuan wants to win over, are coming for the priority dividends of Lin Yuan Pictures.

Otherwise, why would people hold shares without voting and management rights?

This means that Lin Yuan must ensure that Lin Yuan Pictures has a large amount of profit available for dividends every year.

Moreover, because a large amount of dividends are distributed every year, the company's profits can no longer be freely controlled by Lin Yuan as before.

This is what Charlize said, being put on a bridle.

Lin Yuan had already anticipated these two disadvantages.

Everything has a price. You can't just want the horse to run without giving it grass.

Why would others support you if you don’t offer real money and benefits?

Therefore, the pressure brought by these two drawbacks is reasonable.

Compared with the disadvantages, the benefits are more visible to the naked eye:

On the one hand, Lin Yuan will obtain more resources to win over allies.

On the other hand, he no longer has to worry about financing restrictions.

As before, his equity was already stuck at 66.7%, and he could not raise more equity for further financing.

Because no matter what form of equity financing is carried out, he will lose absolute control of the company.

Now that this problem has been completely solved, Lin Yuan signed his name on the plan without hesitation.

"Please inform Betty that I agree with her plan. Please formulate a specific and feasible plan as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)