I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 224 Going Mad!
July 2003.

【Bingbing Yang Cola】, a small, struggling Chinese brand beverage factory with a market share of less than 1%, barely making ends meet.

In April 2004, this previously unknown Chinese beverage rapidly rose to prominence, starting in cinemas and expanding from small shops to supermarkets. In just 10 months, it sold a total of 100 million bottles of Coca-Cola, generating profits of nearly 70 million RMB.

【European Suits】, formerly a garment OEM factory in the suburbs of Yanjing, established its brand in 2001, briefly opened stores before closing down. From 2002 to June 2003, it mainly engaged in OEM manufacturing. After June, its stores sprang up like mushrooms after rain, ranging from sportswear to casual wear, with sales exceeding 210 million RMB and profits exceeding 100 million RMB…

【A Liang Fast Food Restaurant】, before June 2003, was a construction site fast food restaurant. After June, the 【A Liang Catering Brand】 was established. Within 10 months, it had 70 branded fast food franchise stores across China, with a very promising future…

【流婷洗发水】，2003年8月份之前为一家普普通通的洗发品牌，8月份之后到4月1日，盈利金额翻了接近5倍……

……

On the computer.

A collection of documents.

One data point at a time.

Like a raging storm, it shook Kevin's understanding of traditional industries.

Kevin's gaze finally settled on the logo of [XuanShi Entertainment], where he saw Zhou Yang's story...

He then realized that the explosive growth of these brands was directly related to the business operations of XuanShi Entertainment!
What may seem like just a series of movies actually represents a complete commercial brand chain...

At the heart of this entire chain of events lies the name "Zhou Yang".

This includes a photo of Zhou Yang with an Audi A6 last year and a 30% increase in sales!
After a moment of silence...

He looked at his assistant beside him.

"Is our all-new Audi A8 flagship luxury sedan about to be launched?"

"Yes!"

"Contact a designer to help customize a globally limited edition A8..."

"What are you..."

"..."

..............................

August 4, early morning.

The morning sun in Yanjing dispelled some of the chill of the night.

Liu Jinghua of [Huashang Brothers] did not rest, but sat quietly in his office waiting for news.

During this period, she kept a close eye on the influence of "The Lord of the Rings" on the Internet and dared not relax for a moment.

"The Lord of the Rings" was a key project for Huasheng Brothers in the first half of 2004, and it was also the most crucial battle for Huasheng Brothers after its listing!
Every rise and fall in box office revenue is related to whether their film division's performance in the first half of 2004 is outstanding, whether it is favored by capital, and whether the stock can rise to a higher level.

The data department predicts that "The Lord of the Rings" will gross 3.1 million!
Although Huasheng Brothers acquired the rights to two more Hollywood films after "The Lord of the Rings," the total investment was not as high as "The Lord of the Rings," and the market rating was also in the middle range. The data department's analysis of the box office of the next two Hollywood films is estimated to be around 2.7 million RMB, which is impressive, but far from amazing...

Capital prefers to let the data speak for itself!
Around nine o'clock in the morning, there was a knock on the office door.

Liu Jinghua rubbed his tired temples as he watched Li Wei silently walk in with a set of data.

"Mr. Liu, I just received a message..." Li Wei's voice was a little hoarse, and he looked haggard, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well that night.

He silently handed the documents to Liu Jinghua: "I spoke with these six cinemas last night, hoping they could adjust their screening schedules... They agreed to help us reach the top, reducing some of the screenings for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Kings,' but..."

When Liu Jinghua received the data and saw that all six cinema chains had added several screenings of "The Lord of the Rings" to make up for the lost resources, he did not smile. Instead, his heart sank.

"Six theater chains suppressed it, but last night four more small and medium-sized theater chains temporarily adjusted their schedules to include 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings,' taking up two of our screenings. Now, the number of theater chains showing 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings' nationwide has increased to 14! These small and medium-sized theater chains are testing our bottom line step by step. When they see our tough stance, they back down a bit; when they see our stance soften slightly, they start testing us again..."

Li Wei's voice echoed in the office.

Liu Jinghua put down the film scheduling materials and sat down in a chair with a complicated expression.

"Can we find out who's behind these cinema chains and who's pulling the strings?"

"It's Dong Qichang, the former head of the copyright department of [Huaying International]..." As soon as he finished speaking, Li Wei's phone vibrated, and then Li Wei's expression changed slightly.

"what happened?"

"According to the information I just received, the heads of these small and medium-sized cinema chains seem to have gathered together for a meeting just now..."

He handed the text messages on his phone to Liu Jinghua.

Liu Jinghua looked at the words "[Independent Cinema Alliance]" on the text message.

...............................

2003 years.

With the film "Qin" breaking box office records with 1.8 million yuan, becoming the first truly significant domestic commercial blockbuster, the Chinese film market experienced an unprecedented boom, with the total box office for the year exceeding 23 billion yuan...

The era of film has not yet ended, but digital technology has quietly changed the way movies are produced.

Beneath the glitz and glamour of a new era's rise, there are naturally undercurrents.

The fierce competition between cinema chains can only be described as "white-hot".

In early 2003, Huaxia Cinema Chain, with its 30 branches, generally had independent scheduling rights and wielded considerable influence. However, with the influx of more and more capital and the rapid expansion of the three major cinema chains, their dominance waned.
Furthermore, the five major film studios, in conjunction with the three major cinema chains, are using the monopolistic practices of Hollywood and Chinese films to forcibly squeeze out the survival space of other cinema chains…

By the end of the year, 6 out of the 27 cinema chains other than the three major chains could not withstand the impact of internal and external troubles and were eventually merged into the three major chains, existing in name only.

In 2004, with the successive listings of the three major cinema chains, Huaying International, Fengyu International, and Tianxing Film & Television, the situation did not improve; on the contrary, it worsened. It is no exaggeration to say that many cinema chains were on the verge of survival!
In early April, three more cinema chains were acquired and incorporated into Huaying International, essentially selling themselves into servitude...

Everyone knows that the film industry will be a lucrative business in the future, and everyone wants to monopolize it and become a beneficiary of the times!
Naturally, the other two cinema chains were not to be outdone, and they used various means to coerce and entice more cinemas, hoping to rival [Huaying International] in this new era!
In this environment, the survival of other cinema chains is getting worse and worse!
【XuanShi Entertainment】

Sunlight streamed into the conference room.

"From this moment forward, on behalf of [Xuan Shi Entertainment], I am officially in contact with you all..."

In the conference room, Dong Qichang sat in a chair, silently observing everyone present.

The words "Independent Alliance" were exceptionally conspicuous behind him.

The so-called "independent alliance" is a self-organized interest group of small and medium-sized cinema chains that have been squeezed out by the five major companies in the past six months.

They not only failed to secure priority revenue sharing from Hollywood blockbusters, but also faced price pressure from five Chinese film companies, and were further squeezed and acquired by China's three major cinema chains...

Beset by internal and external troubles, some chose to bow down, take a sum of money and withdraw from the cinema industry, while others have been looking for a way to break through the encirclement!

Dong Qichang saw this very point!
So during this period, he traveled between various cinemas, bringing all those who wanted to resist but were powerless to do so under Zhou Yang's wing...

"I'm sorry for the sudden invitation..."

"I received a call from General Manager Zhou in the early hours of yesterday morning..."

"President Zhou's attitude was very sincere and earnest!"

"He asked me to pass on a few words to you. He said: He's bearing the pressure from outside capital all by himself."

"Furthermore, we are willing to offer you a 15% discount on the movie tickets for [Xuan Shi Entertainment] films. If needed, we are also willing to invest in you to help you build your own cinemas..."

"Of course, we will not deprive you of any autonomy in management, nor do we need to fall out with any of the five major film companies. We just need you to schedule a few screenings of our film. If they threaten you, you can reduce the number of screenings, or even schedule our film for some less popular time slots, as long as you guarantee us two screenings a day!"

"Besides, as everyone knows, the beverage and related market prospects behind Mr. Zhou are excellent. You all saw the situation of the first few cinema chains that cooperated with us last year, right? We are willing to represent the cooperative brands under Mr. Zhou and cooperate with you again!"

"Although tickets for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings' are cheap, we can sell them through merchandise such as popcorn and drinks. In fact, we could even make a profit per screening that surpasses that of 'The Lord of the Rings' by 20%!"

"..."

On the table are profit statements for everything from [Bingbing Yang Cola] to [Wuhun Series] peripheral products.

Upon seeing this profit statement, all the cinema owners shuddered slightly.

Then, he looked at Dong Qichang, and after a few seconds...

"I sign!"

"I'll sign too!"

"And I!"

"me too!"

...........................

The whole day of May 16th.

Thanks to the massive resources invested by [Washington Brothers] in promoting the film "The Lord of the Rings," its popularity has remained consistently high.

From stunning special effects to breathtaking epic storylines and Easter eggs, from Hollywood visual effects to the global film industry to global box office rankings…

These topics dominated all movie websites on the internet, with popularity exceeding one million, making them virtually unrivaled...

In the evening, [Washington Brothers] added more to the film!

They showed off the astonishing $3040 million box office gross worldwide for the premiere of "The Lord of the Rings".

The day's box office surpassed the $2950 million record set by "Digital Empire" in 2003, becoming the highest-grossing single day worldwide and officially taking the top spot globally!

Once this news was posted online, it instantly caused a sensation on major movie forums!

Countless discussions about "The Lord of the Rings" have flooded the internet!

They all claim to be witnesses to history!
The hype lasted for nearly 8 hours...

Until around 2 a.m.!

Another piece of news about The Lord of the Rings: The Second Ring suddenly appeared out of nowhere...

That news came from an interview with Kevin, the president of Audi China...

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings delivers a truly soul-stirring experience!"

This is not just a movie, but an epic about passion and dreams.

This is dedicated to all the drivers who chase their dreams on the track!
Audi will be collaborating with Mr. Zhou Yang to launch a globally limited edition Audi A8 commemorative race car themed around "The Lord of the Rings: The Second Ring".
Paying homage to art with art, bringing cinematic legends to life.

(End of this chapter)