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

Chapter 285 An Earthquake in the Entertainment Industry!
Dark as ink.

A 24-hour coffee shop on the outskirts of Yanjing was dimly lit.

Liu Jinghua lowered the brim of her baseball cap, and the wind chimes rang crisply as she pushed open the glass door.

Her gaze swept over the corner booth, where a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses was flipping through the Japanese version of the "Dekker Ultraman" artbook, the steam from his coffee cup long since dissipated.

“President Zhou.” She took off her mask, revealing fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and smiled. “The entire industry is waiting for you to be smashed to pieces.”

Zhou Yang closed the picture book, his gaze remarkably calm, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Ha, so President Liu came here personally to examine the injury? Too bad, the merchandise for 'Martial Soul 3' sold quite a bit..."

He silently handed Liu Jinghua the peripheral data of "Wuhun 3" from the past week.

The internet is in an uproar, with many people belittling "Wuhun 3" to the point of being worthless, even leading some to mistakenly believe that the "Wuhun" series IP is completely finished.

However, reality was quite the opposite; merchandise sales for "Wu Hun 3" surged by 340% after its release, far exceeding expectations...

These figures are even increasing dramatically, and on some days, they have even approached half of the sales of "Dekker Ultraman".

Liu Jinghua sat in the chair and silently looked at a set of data.

Just then, blinding headlights flashed past the window, illuminating the joint letter from the distributors in the folder. Those toy manufacturers who had wavered before the "choose one of two" agreement were now all increasing their orders for the new "Martial Soul" series. Of course, all of this was being done secretly. At this point, everyone at [Huashang Brothers] was only focused on the soaring stock price and no longer paid attention to anything else...

I've worked so hard for the company for so many years!
The fluctuations in stock prices over a few minutes can equal the gains of several years of hard work for many people. Few can resist this temptation.

After putting down the data, Liu Jinghua wasn't surprised; he just stared blankly at the darkness outside the window with a complicated expression...

"Mr. Zhou, I may have to go." Liu Jinghua looked around, and after confirming that there were no eavesdroppers, she stared at Zhou Yang and lowered her voice.

"As I said before, a good bird chooses a good tree to perch on, let alone a phoenix. We at [Xuan Shi Entertainment] welcome you!"

"President Zhou, I will not join anyone's company..." Liu Jinghua shook his head when he saw Zhou Yang's smiling face.

"Oh? What do you mean..."

"Mr. Zhou, I've been through a lot these past few years, and I'd like to try starting my own business and establishing a talent agency... Of course, resources are limited at the beginning, and I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with [Xuan Shi Entertainment] in the future. I hope Mr. Zhou will give me your guidance." She looked at Zhou Yang with a very serious expression!

"I'll definitely get preferential treatment, but... what will I get in return?"

Liu Jinghua did not respond, but silently handed Zhou Yang a pre-prepared list.

The names circled in red made Zhou Yang frown slightly. These names were all key figures in charge of Huasheng Brothers' overseas distribution channels, as well as some of the copyright management personnel. Zhou Yang had actually been paying attention to them before, and had been trying to recruit them, but unfortunately, he couldn't get them...

Liu Jinghua gently stirred the coffee in his cup, his gaze calm: "President Zhou, during my years at [Huashang Brothers], I've built a mature team, including core members in overseas distribution, artist management, and copyright operation... If you could acquire them, it would be a tremendous boost to your business!"

Zhou Yang pushed up his glasses, then narrowed his eyes: "President Liu is trying to undermine our position."

Liu Jinghua smiled, took a document from her bag, and pushed it in front of Zhou Yang: "It's not about cutting off our resources, it's about leveraging their strength. My new company needs resources, while [Xuan Shi Entertainment] needs channels and talent. We can complement each other." She paused, lowering her voice: "Moreover, President Zhou should be aware of the internal problems [Huasheng Brothers] is currently facing... Rather than letting them rot in their own pot, why don't we join forces and start afresh..."

Zhou Yang glanced at the list and cooperation terms on the document, his smile gradually fading: "President Liu certainly has guts, but these people won't be easy to poach..."

Liu Jinghua picked up his coffee and took a sip: "As long as President Zhou agrees, leave the rest to me!"

"Nodding is fine, but I can't believe you for no reason..."

"In addition to this agreement, my new company has invited [Xuanshi Entertainment] to invest 30%. We can help [Xuanshi Entertainment] with issues such as artist management, assistant company teams, and copyright operation. Besides, our new company also hopes to help you with some overseas matters that are inconvenient for you to handle personally... Of course, unless I personally breach the contract unilaterally, or there are major disagreements, the management of the new company will be in my hands..."

“I remember you have a non-compete agreement, right? It seems like you have to pay a lot of money in compensation…” Zhou Yang suddenly thought of something and narrowed his eyes.

"I will pay the penalty for breach of contract; it won't affect you..."

"can."

"besides……"

"What else?"

"During the cashing out of [Huashang Brothers] shares, Mr. Zhou, I hope you can cooperate with me..."

Zhou Yang pushed up his glasses, squinted, and stared at Liu Jinghua!
Liu Jinghua also looked at Zhou Yang and silently took out a series of agreements. The agreements contained a lot of overseas resources, and even an agreement for a movie theater chain...

It turns out that Liu Jinghua had also invested in a cinema chain over the years. Although it was not one of the three major cinema chains or a "cinema chain alliance", it was one of the top-ranked cinema chains among the 15.

Outside the window, a car drove by, its headlights briefly illuminating the two men's faces and reflecting the ambition in their eyes.

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

On November 15, the global premiere promotional event for "The Incredible Hulk" was held in Yanjing.

Anhua Chan appeared on the red carpet with his Hollywood team, and the return of this Oscar-winning director instantly ignited the entire internet under the flashing lights.

Media outlets rushed to report on the "return of the glory of the Chinese people," and state media praised it for "redefining Chinese-language films with Hollywood industrial standards." Meanwhile, online articles criticizing the film for "learning storytelling on one's knees" flooded the internet.

Meanwhile, as news spread across the internet that "Dekker Ultraman" had surpassed 2.7 million yuan in box office revenue after 12 days of release, photos of packed theaters posted by the three major cinema chains flooded social media, making "Wu Hun 3's" 1.75 million yuan box office pale in comparison...

The capital market's reaction was the most frenzied...

[Huashang Brothers] Hong Kong stocks surged 14% in a single day, with total market capitalization exceeding HK$51 billion, leading the entire Chinese listed film and television industry by a wide margin...

With the global premiere of "The Incredible Hulk" underway, a series of positive news for [Huashang Brothers] followed, causing the company's market value to surge again...

And in a place where no one can see...

The original shareholders of [Huashang Brothers] have all begun to cash out and leave, including Liu Jinghua and the founders of [Huashang Brothers] and several other companies... According to insider information, Liu Jinghua and others have successively cashed out nearly 2.5 million RMB in the stock market...

The Zhang brothers, Zhonglei and Zhonglei, held onto their shares tightly, like gamblers clutching their last chips, waiting for the stock price to surge to another peak after the premiere of "The Incredible Hulk"!
On November 16th, at 8:00 AM, "The Incredible Hulk" premiered. On the day of the premiere, the flashing lights on the red carpet and the media hype made them feel triumphant—Chen Anhua's Hollywood team, Oscar-level special effects, and a barrage of press releases proclaiming it a "new benchmark for the Chinese film industry"—everything seemed like a carefully orchestrated prelude to a capitalist carnival.

[Washington Brothers] shares have repeatedly hit new highs, with total market capitalization exceeding HK$60 billion.

The Zhang brothers, blinded by greed, clung tightly to their last remaining chips, hoping to drive the price up again!
however……

Nobody expected this!

Hulk appears to have flopped at the Hollywood box office!

Despite critics' high praise for the "philosophical depth" and "human character portrayal" of *The Incredible Hulk*, general audiences were not impressed with this slow-paced, dialogue-heavy "art-house superhero film"...

The film performed very strongly at the box office in the first half of its premiere in China, but after several rounds of screenings, the online word-of-mouth for the film was not as enthusiastic as expected. Instead, it showed a slight trend of starting strong but declining in popularity.

Late at night, the office of [Huashang Brothers] was brightly lit.

"Mr. Zhang, the box office is in trouble! 'The Incredible Hulk' might not even break 2000 million on its opening day!"

The marketing director rushed in, his voice filled with panic.

Zhang Zhonglei jumped up from his chair, his face ashen: "What? Quick! Activate the emergency plan immediately!"

"Are we going to use the same marketing strategy as 'Dekker'?" the CFO asked nervously.

"Yes! Execute immediately!" Zhang Zhongqiang grabbed the report, his fingers tapping heavily on the data. "Save every effort to boost the opening day's box office!"

"Understood! I'll arrange it right away!" The marketing director turned to leave.

"Wait!" Zhang Zhonglei suddenly called out to him, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "This time, the operation needs to be bigger. I want to see immediate results!"

"it is good!"

Just as the marketing director was leaving in a hurry...

Suddenly, the phone rang urgently!

After receiving the call, the two brothers' eyes widened!
His face immediately turned ashen!

"What? Say that again!"

Zhang Zhonglei gripped the phone tightly, his hands trembling.

An urgent report came from the other end of the phone: "General Manager Liu, along with all the key personnel of the overseas distribution department, submitted their resignations, and the copyright operation center too..."

"Damn it! Of all times to leave, why now of all times!" Zhang Zhongqiang slammed his fist on the desk, scattering financial statements all over the floor.

Immediately afterward, he took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and quickly called Liu Jinghua.

A long busy tone came through the receiver.

When the call finally connected, his Adam's apple bobbed as he suppressed his anger and forced a smile: "Mr. Liu, the company is at a critical juncture right now, and we need you to be there... Don't be angry, can't we sit down and talk about this? You've poured a lot of your heart and soul into this company, you..."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Immediately afterwards...

"Mr. Zhang, the option repurchase agreement we discussed at last month's board meeting—Article 7, Clause 3—was brilliantly written."

Zhang Zhonglei's pupils suddenly contracted: "Where did you hear this gossip, Mr. Liu? The finance department has indeed been reviewing things recently."

"How do you figure out how to use a performance-based agreement to take away 5% of my shares?" Liu Jinghua suddenly chuckled over the phone.

Zhang Zhongqiang suddenly stood up, knocking over a coffee cup: "You! That's not what we meant!"

"The legal department will receive the full amount of the breach of contract penalty from me at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. After all," she paused deliberately, "compared to the profits you all made from cashing out your Hong Kong stocks, this amount is nothing. By the way, I've already cashed out the stocks. Also, I'm taking some people with me... I've paid their breach of non-compete agreement penalties!"

"you……"

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

"Mr. Xu, something terrible has happened!"

"Liu Jinghua led the entire overseas distribution department to resign..."

【Tianyu】

early morning.

Xu Haibo, who was resting, was awakened by a series of urgent phone calls. After answering the phone in a daze, his pupils suddenly contracted!

The voice on the other end of the phone trembled: "I just received news that her [Xinghai Cinemas] suddenly announced tonight that it has joined the [Cinema Alliance]! Besides that..."

"In addition, some employees in key positions in our company resigned suddenly just now, without any prior warning!"

"what!"

Xu Haibo suddenly jumped out of bed, his face changing drastically!

(End of this chapter)