Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 715 A petty person, young people still lack courage.
Despite the continued global box office success of "Interstellar," its cumulative domestic box office has quietly approached the billion-yuan mark, with only "Transformers 3" and "Avatar" remaining as formidable competitors.

Both inside and outside the industry are eagerly anticipating these historic moments.

But as time went on, the film's popularity eventually faded compared to its initial release.

The promotional campaigns for the other films in the Lunar New Year season have started to follow.

The most exciting aspect of this year's Lunar New Year film season is undoubtedly the head-to-head clash between two blockbuster films by renowned directors.

Zhang Yimou's "The Flowers of War" and Tsui Hark's "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate".

Both films are firmly set to release on December 15th, and neither has any intention of changing the release date.

Just from this time slot, you can smell the strong smell of gunpowder.

Bona's Yu Dong is determined this time to go all the way down this path.

Anyway, I've already offended Zhang Weiping because of the revenue-sharing agreement.

In addition, Bona Film Group and New Pictures have a long-standing feud, from the battle between "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Confession of Pain" to the narrow victory of "Bodyguards and Assassins" over "A Simple Noodle Story". This latest incident is no surprise.

Yu Dong was the first to launch an attack.

At the press conference for "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," he dropped a bombshell on the national media.

"Bona Film Group, together with the co-producers, has decided to proactively reduce the minimum ticket price for 'Flying Swords of Dragon Gate' by five yuan from the original price."

We hope that this approach can benefit more viewers, allowing more people to go to the cinema and experience the true charm of 3D martial arts.

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

It has to be said that Yu Dong's move was ruthless and ingenious.

His price reduction was not mandatory.

In other words, the cinemas could have chosen not to lower the price. So, the extra five yuan would essentially be given away to the cinemas by Bona Film Group for free.

Previously, he had already taken the initiative to reduce profits and not increase the revenue share, which won the favor of the cinemas.

Now, they've pulled this "price reduction and discount" stunt.

In contrast, Zhang Weiping's approach of raising both ticket prices and revenue sharing is particularly unpopular with cinemas.

After all, no matter how great your "The Flowers of War" is, it's not "Interstellar".

Many cinema chains immediately, both openly and covertly, offered their support to "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," indicating that they would increase its screenings on its opening day.

"Damn it! Yu Dong, that son of a bitch!"

In the office of New Picture, Zhang Weiping was so angry that he smashed the purple clay teapot in his hand.

"He's a traitor! A double-dealer! He's disrupting the market! This is unfair competition!"

He pointed at his distribution manager and began to curse.

"What are you waiting for?! Go! Call the theaters! Tell them! Anyone who dares not to screen 'The Flowers of War' will never be shown on their screens again!"

After he finished cursing, he plopped back down on the sofa, panting heavily with anger.

"Hehe, to be honest, Yu Dong's behavior is a bit disgusting."

Zhang Lin of Wanda also sounded somewhat disdainful in his phone call with Wu Chen.

From the perspective of the production company, Bona's behavior of actively currying favor with theaters in order to undermine its competitors is tantamount to betraying the entire production company camp.

"But don't the cinemas like it? Wanda is a major player in the cinema industry now," Wu Chen replied with a laugh on the other end of the phone.

“Ye Ning and the others do like it, but that's because they can make real money from it.” Zhang Lin didn’t say it explicitly, “but what they say about it in private is another story.”

Wu Chen naturally knew this.

Yu Dong truly understands the meaning of the word "petty person."

Although Zhang Weiping wasn't a good person either.
"By the way, Director Wu," Zhang Lin changed the subject, "Do you know AMC Theatres?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen was slightly taken aback.

coming.

He knew that Wanda was preparing to take action.

"The second largest cinema chain in North America, everyone knows that. What, Wanda has something to say about it?"

Zhang Lin, on the other end of the phone, was somewhat surprised: "Director Wu, you guessed that?"

“There’s nothing to guess.” Wu Chen smiled. “Because Regal, the largest cinema chain in North America, has a complex shareholding structure and is backed by a financial behemoth, it’s unlikely that they will make a deal.”

AMC Theatres has a crucial point: its owners are a group of private equity funds.

At this point, it's already quite obvious.

The business model of private equity funds is "buy low, sell high". The group of fund shareholders who acquired AMC as early as 2004 had a strong desire to sell.

It can be said that Wanda's move this time was a perfect match.

The fact that AMC Theatres is willing to sell is no secret among the upper echelons of the North American film and television industry.

In fact, in the past two years, some private equity funds, through the advisors who help manage Obsidian Entertainment's finances, have subtly inquired with him whether he was interested in taking over the company.

"So, Director Wu, what are you doing?" Zhang Lin immediately realized.

Since Wu Chen knew about this but took no action, it means...
"I don't have much of an opinion on this," Wu Chen said frankly. "Hehe, we haven't even figured out how to operate Xingchen Cinemas in China yet."

Going to target overseas markets is a really big step.

"However, if Wanda wants to win them over, it shouldn't be too difficult. Of course, this is also beneficial for me. In the future, my films overseas will have a strong backer, won't they?"

Wu Chen joked with a smile.

He does not intend to prevent Wanda from acquiring AMC Theatres.

On the one hand, his opinion could not possibly have any influence on Wang Jianlin.

Wang Jianlin is currently at the peak of his career and is brimming with confidence.

Secondly, he also clearly remembered that Wanda's deal ultimately resulted in a lot of money in the long run.

Of course, the process was very complicated.

It's not that AMC Theatres did particularly well later on; in fact, under the impact of the pandemic, the cinema industry was the hardest hit, bar none.

Wanda's $7 million equity investment was almost wiped out at one point.

From any normal business perspective, this was a failed investment.

But no one could have predicted that an unprecedented short squeeze battle among retail investors would take place in the US stock market later on.

Retail investors, led by the WallStreetBets subreddit on Reddit, banded together and went on a buying spree of stocks that were being heavily shorted by Wall Street institutions.

AMC is one of the primary targets.

Its stock price was driven from $18 to an unbelievable $640.

Wanda can be said to have benefited from misfortune. Taking advantage of the high point, it decisively sold off its shares, and ultimately, this investment brought in a net return of more than 15 billion, or even close to 20 billion US dollars.

"Director Wu, you're joking!" Zhang Lin chuckled on the other end of the phone. "However, if Wanda can really acquire it, it will definitely be a huge benefit to the overseas expansion of our domestic films."

If needed at that time, I hope Director Wu can lend a hand.

“No problem.” Wu Chen nodded.

If there's a real need, he certainly wouldn't mind helping to make connections and act as a bridge.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Lin sighed softly.

He actually hoped that Wu Chen could also get on the bus. This would bring the two companies closer together and facilitate future collaborations for Wanda Film Media.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and reported to Wang Jianlin.

He knew, but he had no intention of doing so.

On the other end of the phone, Wang Jianlin's voice paused slightly.

After hanging up the phone, he walked to the window, looked at the bustling traffic below, and muttered to himself.

"He's still too young and lacks courage."

In his view, Wu Chen knew about AMC's situation but did not intend to take action. For someone who was already an internationally renowned director and whose company was a leading private enterprise, it was somewhat timid and hesitant.

He didn't believe that Wu Chen couldn't come up with the money.

On the other hand, after being outmaneuvered by the combined forces of the cinema chains and Yu Dong, Zhang Weiping also took concrete actions to "strike" Bona Film Group.

Taking advantage of his appearance on Dragon TV's "Kefan's Listening," he directly attacked Bona on camera.

"I suggest that viewers of 'The Flowers of War' should not go to Bona Cinemas to see it for now, because they may not be able to screen it."

The two blockbuster films for the Lunar New Year season are already fiercely competing even before their release.

This infuriated Han Sanping.

He made a phone call and gave Yu Dong a thorough dressing-down.
Just as he hung up the phone and was about to have a sip of tea to calm himself down, his secretary, seizing the opportune moment, walked in with a delighted expression.

"Chairman Han, good news!"

"What good news?"

"According to the latest data we just received, the cumulative box office of 'Interstellar' in China has officially surpassed the one billion yuan mark."

(End of this chapter)