Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Liu Yufei has been confused by the current pre-sale progress of "Legendary Road".

She did not exit the current interface immediately, but pressed the F5 key on the keyboard to refresh.

"Currently, 22578232 viewers have completed pre-orders, with a progress of 37.63%."

In just ten seconds, another 274 million pre-orders were added, which is an amazing speed.

At this rate, the pre-order target for "Legendary Road" will be reached ahead of schedule in less than an hour.

The pre-order target for "Legendary Road" is not calculated based on the amount of money, because the ticket prices in different regions are different.

The target is set at 6000 million visitors, with an estimated pre-order amount of around US$8.3 million.

This amount is already very high because it is currently only pre-ordering movie tickets.

If pre-orders exceed $8.3 million, the total box office could exceed $20 billion.

This is just a documentary, made from behind-the-scenes footage.

Lin Yuan's pre-order of two films this time is like killing two birds with one stone.

Make one movie and earn the money of two movies.

Liu Yufei subconsciously pressed the F5 key again.

"Currently, 25323249 viewers have completed pre-orders, with a progress of 42.21%."

Damn, there are more than 270 million more. Not only has the progress not slowed down, but it has gotten faster and faster.

It seems that the idea of ​​completing the pre-order progress in half an hour is still conservative.

Now Liu Yufei has vaguely seen that the pre-sale amount may far exceed her imagination.

She had given up on making predictions; it was impossible to guess the outcome now.

The only thing that can be confirmed is that with the release of these two films, the entire film market will be subverted.

Liu Yufei couldn't help feeling proud when she thought that Lin Yuan had created another miracle.

For her, it makes her happier to see her man achieve brilliant success than to see herself succeed.

The pre-orders for "Legendary Road" here are a sure win, so it's time to check out "King of Spy Wars 2".

The scheduled progress there will probably be faster.

"Click."

Liu Yufei clicked the mouse, closed the pre-order page of "Legendary Road", and then entered the pre-order channel of "King of Spy Wars 2".

When Liu Yufei opened the pre-order page for "Lord of Spy 2," a large red poster immediately appeared before her eyes:
"Currently, 129763823 viewers have completed pre-orders, with a progress of 108.13%."

Liu Yufei: “…”

She raised her white and tender hands and rubbed her eyes.

"Currently, 129763823 viewers have completed pre-orders, with a progress of 108.13%."

She reached out and pressed the F5 key.

"Currently, 131783596 viewers have completed pre-orders, with a progress of 109.81%."

"Crazy!" Liu Yufei exclaimed.

When Lin Yuan set the pre-sale target at 1 million people, with a total amount of approximately US$2000 billion, Liu Yufei was a little worried.

Is this goal a bit high?
But now it seems that it is not high, it really is not high at all!

The pre-order target for "Lord of Spy Wars 2" was filled up in just about ten minutes!
This is even more exaggerated than the 12306 train ticket grabbing during the Spring Festival.

The timing of the start of this pre-sale can be said to be quite clever.

It is around 9 o'clock in the evening in Yanjing time, which corresponds to around 8 o'clock in the morning in New York time, 10 or o'clock in the afternoon in Europe, and o'clock in the evening in Japan and South Korea. These are the places where Lin Yuan's main voting bases are located, and these are active times for movie fans who are not sleeping.

Even marginal markets such as India, Southeast Asia, and South America are the same.

This means that all movie fans can stay at the pre-sale interface and grab tickets as soon as the pre-sale opens.

Even though Liu Yufei had made bold assumptions beforehand, the pre-sale results still exceeded her expectations.

Compared with "Legendary Road", the pre-orders for "Lord of Spy Wars 2" are even crazier, and now she has no idea what the subsequent results may be.

In front of Liu Yufei's eyes, the smug look on Lin Yuan's face appeared when he slapped money on the faces of those theater owners.

"I really want to go to the scene and see how arrogant that guy is."

……

……

Los Angeles.

Jim Smith, president of AMC, the largest cinema chain in the United States, stands at the door of the Linyuan Pictures building.

He raised his head and looked at the more than 40-story building, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart.

"I didn't expect that in just a few years, he would develop to this level."

"I wonder if he will humiliate me when we meet today?"

Jim Smith was feeling nervous at the moment. He didn't know if the meeting with Lin Yuan would embarrass him.

He and Lin Yuan were not complete strangers, they had met once a few years ago.

Jim Smith recalled the afternoon when Director Cohen and Director Johnston brought Lin Yuan to Universal Pictures.

If I had shown more kindness to Lin Yuan at that time, would he have been so successful today?
Jim Smith still remembers the day when a fierce conflict broke out between director Sommers and Lin Yuan and others over the release and promotion of the three films: "The Mummy Returns", "The Fast and the Furious" and "Jurassic Park 3".

At that time, he had not yet switched to AMC Theaters, but was the vice president of Universal Pictures. It was he who presided over the publicity and promotion budget meeting.

At that time, Lin Yuan was just a newcomer who had just debuted, but he had already demonstrated an extremely tenacious fighting spirit.

President Smith witnessed with his own eyes how Lin Yuan used words to set a trap for his old friend Director Sommers, luring him step by step into his trap and finally confirming the bet.

What happened later was beyond his expectations. "The Mummy Returns" was a box office failure and director Sommers jumped from the hotel.

Lin Yuan made his mark with the two films "The Fast and the Furious" and "Jurassic Park 3", successfully proved himself, and won the strong support of Mr. Eisen.

In just a few years, the small character who had to rely on him has now grown into a big man that he has to look up to.

President Smith sighed and said, "When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head."

It was clearly Lin Yuan who came up with this box office pre-sale system, which put the cinema chains in a very passive position and almost made them vulnerable to extermination.

But not only could he not do anything, he had to go in and negotiate with a shameless face, which was really embarrassing.

But in a world where strength is respected, Lin Yuan is a super-rich man with a net worth of more than 200 billion US dollars (the outside world thinks that it is actually far more than that), and he, the so-called CEO, is just a high-level employee.

Although the AMC Theaters behind him is the largest theater chain in the United States, it is only a company with a market value of about 45 billion US dollars, which is completely not on the same scale as the wealth controlled by Lin Yuan.

If it weren't for the industry's unwritten rules that Hollywood film companies generally don't directly intervene in theaters, would it be difficult for Lin Yuan to acquire AMC?
Everyone knows that Linyuan Pictures has at least $500 billion in cash in its account, making it the absolute cash king.

In front of Lin Yuan, if all the theater companies work together, they can still barely resist.

However, AMC Theaters alone is completely unable to compete and will be easily crushed into pieces.

Therefore, when Lin Yuan called out, he had to take the initiative to go even though he knew it was a Hongmen Banquet.

President Smith walked into the door of Linyuan Pictures.

Led by the front desk receptionist, he soon arrived at the president's office on the 37th floor.

A tall, lovely oriental woman came up and said, "President Smith, right? I'm Yui Aragaki, Mr. Lin Yuan's assistant."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Aragaki!" President Smith shook hands warmly.

He dared not neglect the Japanese woman in front of him.

He didn't take ordinary Japanese seriously at all, but the one in front of him was definitely not the same.

Everyone in the film and television industry knows that Miss Aragaki is Lin Yuan’s absolute confidant.

Lin Yuan would take her with him wherever he went. She was not only Lin Yuan's assistant at work, but also took care of Lin Yuan's daily life.

If you don't want to be an enemy of Lin Yuan, you must never offend Miss Aragaki.

Even though Yui Aragaki is more than 30 years younger than President Smith and could be his daughter, President Smith still asked very respectfully:
"Thank you for troubling you today, Ms. Aragaki. This is a small gift from me since we're meeting for the first time."

Who says Americans don’t understand the ways of the world?
Looking at the way President Smith took out the gift list with skill, you can tell that he must have practiced a lot.

The thin gift list is a car pick-up card.

He ordered a pink sports car in advance at the Ferrari dealership in Los Angeles.

I believe that such a gift can well express my sincerity and bring me closer to Miss Aragaki.

But GAKKI reached out and gently pushed back the gift list handed over by President Smith.

"President Smith, you are so polite. Thank you for your kindness. But the nature of my job means I cannot accept any gifts from friends." GAKKI politely declined President Smith's gift.

For GAKKI, if she wanted money, her name would definitely be on the list of the top 100 richest people in the world. Why would she need President Smith to give her a gift?
On the contrary, what GAKKI has been worried about is that there are too many people who want to give her gifts.

The solution she could take was very simple, which was to reject any gift outright, even if it was a gift from a friend, so as to avoid any room for maneuver.

Seeing that President Smith still had some concerns, GAKKI said with a smile: "President Smith, I understand your concerns.

Talk nicely and you will get what you want.

Mr. Lin Yuan and Ms. Swift are already waiting for you, come with me. " After hearing GAKKI's words, President Smith was stunned for a moment, and then immediately followed GAKKI to the conference room.

He felt a little uneasy because the gift had not been delivered.

But from what Miss Aragaki said, it seems that Lin Yuan will not make things difficult for him?

This gave President Smith even more anticipation.

"crunch~"

GAKKI, who was walking in front, pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in with President Smith.

Sitting in the conference room were Lin Yuan and Taylor Swift, who had accepted all of Mr. Eisen's resources and was currently in charge of the company's film marketing and promotion.

"Mr. Lin Yuan, President Smith has arrived." GAKKI walked to Lin Yuan's side.

Lin Yuan smiled, stood up from his chair, and walked towards President Smith.

Seeing Lin Yuan, President Smith immediately stepped forward and shook Lin Yuan's outstretched hand with both hands.

"Hello, Mr. Lin Yuan."

"President Smith, we meet again."

"Do you remember me?"

"Well, I had a meeting with Director Sommers. Thank you for taking care of me back then."

Smith's heart skipped a beat when he heard Lin Yuan's words.

I'm afraid this is not a sarcasm, right?

How did I take care of him back then?

I had a closer relationship with Director Sommers back then, and I was obviously more biased towards Director Sommers!
Is he still holding a grudge?
Are you taking this opportunity to take revenge on me today?
President Smith said somewhat embarrassedly, "Mr. Lin Yuan, what I did back then was wrong. Every time I think of that day, I feel a wave of guilt and regret, but I have never had the courage to come to you and apologize.

I want to apologize to you in person today, and you can criticize me as much as you want."

Lin Yuan was also stunned when he heard what President Smith said.

He didn't expect that the President Smith in front of him would have such a heavy ideological burden.

But when you think about it carefully, you really can't blame him.

When facing a superior, the inferior will inevitably think too much and over-interpret the superior's words and actions.

So Lin Yuan said sincerely: "President Smith, I sincerely thank you for your care back then."

"Mr. Lin Yuan, I feel even more guilty when you say that. How could I have helped you back then?"

"Do you remember what you said when I proposed the bet?"

"What did I say? I can't quite remember."

It’s no wonder that President Smith is forgetful. The most important result of that memory was that Lin Yuan and Director Sommers finally made a bet.

He had long forgotten the details of the process.

"When Director Sommers and I were about to make a bet, you stepped in to stop it. You said we were crazy and that you would never agree to act arbitrarily with the company's projects," Lin Yuan said.

After hearing what Lin Yuan said, President Smith recalled what happened at that time.

The bet at that time was that Lin Yuan and director Sommers unanimously decided to give the vast majority of the publicity and promotion costs to "The Mummy Returns".

Doing so would result in a serious shortage of publicity and promotion costs for "Fast & Furious" and "Jurassic Park 3", so President Smith stepped forward and wanted to stop the bet.

For him, his identity is first and foremost the vice president of Universal Pictures, and he must be responsible for the company's films and performance.

No matter how good his relationship with director Sommers was, he could never allow director Sommers to take away the vast majority of the publicity and promotion costs, resulting in the withdrawal of two films, "Fast and Furious" and "Jurassic Park 3", due to lack of publicity and promotion costs.

But later it was Lin Yuan who took the initiative to step forward and persuaded him with a joint publicity and promotion plan and an additional minimum guarantee plan, so that he finally agreed to Lin Yuan's plan.

"You decided on the plan out of responsibility for the company and for the sake of our two films. Later, you accepted my plan and cooperated very well in funding and publicity. These are all your care for me at the time, and I should say thank you to you." Lin Yuan said.

After hearing Lin Yuan's words, President Smith couldn't help but feel a little sore in his eyes.

Looking at this young but by no means immature face in front of him, President Smith's heart was like a raging storm:
Amazing!

What a broad mind, what a magnanimity!
No wonder it has reached such heights in just a few years!
When you say thank you, I feel both happy and guilty.

How can I take care of you?

I'm just doing my normal business.

But today, you really took care of my old face, and I should be grateful for your kindness.

President Smith then said sincerely, "I'm truly unworthy of your thanks. Let's not dwell on the past anymore. Let's focus on the future and move forward together."

Lin Yuan also smiled and said, "That's how it should be!"

After saying that, he pulled President Smith to sit down on the chair.

The arrangement of chairs in today's conference room is very interesting. They are not arranged face to face, which would seem confrontational.

Instead, they are arranged sideways in a semi-arc, weakening the sense of confrontation.

"It's time to talk about business." Lin Yuan said.

"Of course you do. Please go ahead." President Smith sat upright.

"I don't have a direct position in Linyuan Pictures, so today's work will be discussed with you by Miss Swift, and I will just listen in." Lin Yuan said with a smile.

After being injured in the fire last time, when all the women gathered together, Lin Yuan took the opportunity to complete the division of his industries.

Because Taylor Swift was unwilling to take on more work at Linyuan Pictures, Annie and Taylor Swift became co-presidents.

Taylor Swift is in charge of the publicity and marketing departments, while Annie took over the film's project establishment and production departments.

Today, Lin Yuan asked President Smith to talk to Taylor Swift. It was not an attempt to shift the blame, but a normal arrangement.

Seeing that the negotiation partner had become Taylor Swift, President Smith was stunned for a moment, but soon smiled and said, "Ms. Swift, it's nice to meet you again."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Smith."

"Are you familiar with each other?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

"Of course. I'm the head of the publicity and promotion department. How could I not be familiar with the theater chains? Although Mr. Smith has only been working at AMC for more than half a year, I have already discussed the matter with him four or five times," Taylor said.

"I've had the pleasure of meeting Miss Swift several times. She's very smart and very approachable during work interactions." President Smith was obviously still a little reserved.

"Haha, that's good. It's easier to talk about today's matter with someone we know." Lin Yuan said with a smile.

"Have you read the plan I sent you?" Taylor Swift went straight to the point.

"Yes, I've reviewed it." President Smith said cautiously, "To be honest, your request has put the board of directors in a difficult position."

"What's the dilemma? Isn't it just that you value your wallet too much? You want to make a lot of money, but you're reluctant to give it up. Aren't you being too greedy?" Taylor Swift showed no mercy at all.

"It's really not the board's fault. The plan you proposed is equivalent to putting the life of AMC Theaters in your hands from now on. Can't we be more cautious?" President Smith argued.

Once the negotiation began, the two of them took their respective positions and began to bargain in a rigid manner.

Taylor Swift has submitted a box office pre-sale restructuring plan to AMC on behalf of Linyuan Pictures.

According to this plan, Linyuan Pictures will conduct pre-sales for specific films, and then allocate screening requirements to theaters based on the pre-sales situation.

As long as the cinema chain allows pre-sale audiences to receive movie tickets according to the screening requirements given by Linyuan Pictures and enter the theater to watch the movie, it can immediately obtain a share of the box office revenue.

The pros and cons of this approach have been discussed in detail before, so I will not repeat them here.

This is a game of reversal of status between film companies and cinema chains. The cinema chains are obviously the ones being cut down and will inevitably resist.

Therefore, Lin Yuan made two flexible plans to reduce the resistance of theaters.

First, not all Linyuan Pictures will adopt this model. Instead, they will use "King of Spy 2" and "Legendary Road" as pilot projects. Once the results are positive, the model will be gradually expanded to other films.

Secondly, Lin Yuan didn't talk to all the cinema chains at once, but only to the largest AMC cinema chain. As long as he could get this one chain to his side, he could prevent the cinema chains from colluding privately and boycotting the film.

President Smith didn't know whether he understood the seriousness of Lin Yuan's plan or not.

The so-called pilot project may be just a trial run before being fully implemented.

If you want to reject this model, then you should reject the pilot at the beginning, rather than helping to prove the feasibility of the pilot.

As for giving priority to talking with AMC, for President Smith, it further proves his value and gains more premium space.

Indeed, for President Smith and AMC, the resistance is not that strong.

As long as the price is right, there is really nothing that cannot be negotiated in the capitalist world.

Then, President Smith asked the question that concerned him most:
“If you want to change the rules, then you have to prove that the new way of playing is a good thing for everyone, right?

May I ask, how much is the pre-sale amount of these two movies?

How much can you share with us?"

"Tell me a number. Including the profit sharing, how much amount would be required for you to agree to the pilot program?" Taylor Swift said confidently, holding a document in her hand.

"For the total pre-sales of $15 billion in North America, we will give priority to our theaters in scheduling the films and get a 40% share," President Smith offered.

He planned to ask for a high price first and then wait for the other party to pay back the money.

"make a deal!"

"???" (End of chapter)