Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 268 Awards and Benefits

Liu Xiaoqian met her mother at the hospital, who was hospitalized due to overwork and disappointment.

Seeing the IV drip in her mother's hand and the disappointment on her face, she felt a sharp pain in her heart.

At that moment, she wanted to muster up the courage to say what she had kept hidden in her heart for so long: "Mom, I don't want to go to a prestigious university, nor do I want to take the civil service exam. I want to write novels."

But the words that were on the tip of her tongue changed to, "Mom, I will definitely study hard and get into a prestigious university!"

The mother was stunned, a hint of surprise and joy flashing in her eyes, but soon tears blurred her vision.

From then on, Liu Xiaoqian studied even harder, but she no longer just studied hard; she began to help Shu Chang apply for scholarships under the "Scholarship Program".

She helped Shu Chang organize the materials and revise the application form again and again.

When they learned that Shu Chang's scholarship application had been approved, the two hugged each other tightly, sharing their hopes for the future, their eyes shining with hope.

She also helped Luo Jin research the sports-specific admission policy and analyzed the admission requirements of various schools with him.

In the literary society, Liu Xiaoqian founded an underground school magazine called "Youthful Wrinkles," which included "poor students' essays" that were not recognized by the mainstream of the school.

With her scholarship in hand, Shu Chang stepped into the campus with great confidence and began her hopeful academic life.

By taking advantage of new sports-specific admission policies in other cities and schools, Luo Jin received an early admission notice from his desired school, taking another step towards his dream.

At her new school, Zhu Yawen gradually let go of her resentment, rediscovered her passion for life, and continued to pursue her own freedom.

The sun was shining brightly on graduation day.

Teacher Wang stood on the podium, reading out the early admission lists of key universities.

Invited to speak on stage, Liu Xiaoqian took a deep breath and walked confidently onto the platform.

She took out the school magazine "Youthful Wrinkles," recited Shu Chang's poems, and displayed Luo Jin's "We Are All Dandelions."

"Youth should not be bound by such constraints. We should bravely pursue our dreams and persevere even in the face of difficulties and setbacks."

We are not products on an assembly line, but dandelions scattered by the wind, flying towards different futures under the same sky…

Some students in the audience were secretly making a fuss, while some teachers remained silent and thoughtful. The dean of students tried to stop them, but was stopped by the principal.

Finally, the camera focuses on the empty classroom.

The words "freedom, dreams, future" were written crookedly on the blackboard. Sunlight streamed through the doors and windows, falling on the graffiti-covered blackboard and casting swaying shadows.

In the distance, the song "Youth" slowly rises: "I am not imprisoned by the cage, I will go or stay as I please..."

The story of youth has thus left its unique mark in the long river of time.

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With the film "Youth" premiering at the Venice Film Festival, four versions of the film's title song have successively climbed onto major pop music charts in Europe and America.

Major news outlets have also begun reporting on the Venice Film Festival.

Allociné: "On September 9th, the 63rd Venice Film Festival officially came to a close, with filmmakers from around the world focusing their attention on the final chapter of this cinematic extravaganza..."

IMDB: "Director Hu Xiaobei wins three international film festival gold awards in one year, and An Xiaoqian wins three Best Actress awards in one year..."

CCTV: "The Chinese film 'Youth' stood out among many films and won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 63rd Venice Film Festival."

Outstanding young director Hu Xiaobei swept three major international film festivals within a year…

People's Daily: "With its unique narrative style and profound emotional content, 'Youth' showcases the unique charm of Chinese cinema, allowing the world to see the vigorous development and unlimited potential of the Chinese film industry..." Tencent: "The success of 'Youth' is not only an affirmation of the hard work of the director and actors, but also an important milestone for Chinese films on the international stage..."

Rotten Tomatoes: "Young director Hu Xiaobei shone brightly at this film festival, winning the Silver Lion for Best Director for his delicate and highly innovative handling of 'Youth'..."

HBO: "Actress An Xiaoqian's performance in 'Youth' is superb, and her highly infectious performance has earned her the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival..."

Time Magazine: "This is An Xiaoqian's third Best Actress award at an A-list international film festival in her acting career..."

It is worth mentioning that Hu Xiaobei is the only director in history to sweep all three major international film festivals in the same year, and is only 20 years old.

Although An Xiaoxi regrettably missed the opportunity to win the Best Actress awards at the three major international film festivals at the age of 18.

However, in just a few days after her 19th birthday, she achieved the remarkable feat of sweeping three major international film festivals and winning three Best Actress awards within a year.

She became the youngest actress in history to achieve a "Grand Slam" in film, leaving a significant mark on the international film scene.

Meanwhile, bolstered by awards swept across three major international film festivals, the box office of "Be Yourself" in various countries has seen a strong surge.

After deducting all related expenses and odds, the film "Youth" also made a net profit of $4400 million.

At that time, Hudong Heavy Machinery's stock experienced a slight drop, with the price at 21 yuan per share. The three individuals collectively purchased 1750 million shares.

At this time, Hu Xiaobei held 3400 million shares of Hudong Heavy Machinery, An Xiaoqian held 2300 million shares, and Liu Xiaoli held 1150 million shares.

Meanwhile, the film reserve fund in Qianbeifeng Entertainment Company's account has reached 3000 million RMB.

With the support of numerous favorable conditions, the film "Become Yourself" achieved a total box office of 1.52 million RMB in China.

Although the movie has been taken off the screens, the box office was good, but the return on investment will not be quick; it will probably take several months to a year.

Generally, after a film's run ends, cinemas will compile and verify the box office data within a certain period of time and report it to the distribution company.

After the cinemas aggregate the data, they settle accounts with the distributors, a process that may take 1-2 months.

After receiving payment from the theaters, the distributor deducts its own distribution costs and then shares the revenue with the production company. This process may take another 1-2 months, or even longer.

If multiple parties are involved, or there are complex copyright issues, financial audits, etc., the revenue sharing period may be extended to six months or even a year.

The box office revenue of the film "Become Yourself" will first be subject to a deduction of 5% for the Film Industry Development Special Fund and 3.3% for business tax.

The remaining portion is the revenue-sharing box office, of which theaters and cinemas receive 57% and producers and distributors receive 43%, which is 5900 million RMB.

During this period, the price of a regular movie print was around 1500-3000 yuan, while the price of a print for some blockbusters could be higher, reaching 5000 yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan.

Although Hu Xiaobei was unaware of the price of a copy of "Becoming Yourself," the number of copies was considerable, reaching 700.

If calculated at 3000-5000 yuan, then the issuer's copying cost would reach 210-350 million RMB.

Therefore, the distributor, China Film Group, received 20% of the box office revenue. Fortunately, it was 20% of the 5900 million yuan, which is 1180 million RMB.

Based on this calculation, "Become Yourself," which grossed 1.52 million yuan in total in China, earned 4720 million RMB in box office revenue in China.

Therefore, if it weren't for the revenue from selling copyrights overseas, investing in blockbusters in China during this period would basically be a dead end.

Take the movie "The Banquet" for example. Its investment was US$1500 million, which is about RMB 1.2 million.

However, "The Banquet" only grossed 1.3 million RMB at the Chinese box office, and even that is still subject to the possibility of box office manipulation...

Therefore, in this era, there is only one way to make money by making movies: sell the copyrights overseas.

(End of this chapter)