It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 262 Ruixing Cinema Line Officially Established! Various Parties Move In… (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Breaking News: Ruixing Cinemas officially launched today, with director Lü Rui investing 6 million yuan to target the film market!

"It is understood that, as of now, Ruixing Cinema Line has taken over the remaining shares of Warner Bros. International Cinemas and has reached a strategic alliance cooperation plan with Shanghai Film Group, China Film Group, Wanda Group, Guangzhou Jinyi Cinemas and Shenzhen Guotou Trust and Investment Company."

"Ruixing Cinemas issued a notice stating that it will fully expand its market, build an independent five-star Ruixing International Cinema in the capital, and will build no less than 30 cinemas in first- and second-tier cities within the next 3 to 5 years, striving to increase the number of screens from the current 90 to 300..."

"Ruixing Wanda International Cinema, Shanghai Yonghua Cinema, Nanjing Shangying Ruixing Cinema, Jinyi Ruixing International Cinema... have successively completed the sign replacement."

"The Film Bureau has announced the latest list of approved scripts, and the historical/war script 'Nanjing Photo Studio' submitted by Ruishijie has been successfully approved."

Vision...has officially entered the cinema industry?!
As one news story after another exploded like thunderclaps, the entire Chinese entertainment industry instantly erupted in excitement!
The conference rooms of major film and television companies were brightly lit, and industry professionals were frantically forwarding and discussing the news...

Especially on Bona's side, Yu Dong was completely stunned. He slammed the teacup on the table with a "bang" and didn't even notice the scalding tea splashing all over his hand.

After breaking off cooperation with Ruishijie due to a previous conflict, he had been holding back a lot of resentment.

I went to their home to apologize, but they wouldn't accept it.

Trying to get someone to mediate didn't work either.

After a while, he started to feel resentful, thinking that Lü Rui was just being unreasonable and would rather suffer the consequences than listen to reason!
Although he was indeed quite envious of the film production revenue of Ruishijie, Bona Film Group was also doing very well in the industry thanks to its distribution and cinema business.

He has now reached strategic partnerships with many companies in the Hong Kong film industry, securing a significant amount of film distribution business and making a fortune, living a very comfortable life.

Sometimes, when he was drunk, he would even boast to others that Lü Rui would one day come begging to him for help.

After all, in his view, no matter how well a movie is made, it ultimately depends on theatrical release.

With control of the cinema terminals, he had plenty of ways to cause trouble for Lü Rui.

Although he didn't dare to openly oppose Han Sanping out of consideration for him, he never stopped using underhanded tactics.

For example, shortening screening times, secretly diverting box office revenue, or deliberately delaying revenue sharing...

In his view, Lü Rui was destined to suffer this injustice in silence!
After all, there are only so many cinemas in China, so if they want to make money, they have to rely on Bona's cinemas.

But now, the powerful debut of Ruixing Cinemas has shattered his illusions.

Upon entering the market, Lü Rui took over the cinema share left by foreign investors and spent a whopping 6 million yuan to buy old cinemas for renovation, buy land to build cinemas, and even collaborate with major shopping malls for joint development.

With this series of combined measures, Ruixing Cinemas' number of wholly-owned and joint-venture cinemas has soared to 15, and the number of screens has exceeded 90!
It's worth noting that Bona currently only has 9 cinemas, and the number of screens under its umbrella has not yet exceeded 80.

Doesn't this mean that Lü Rui currently has access to more screens than he can access?
Even though he doesn't have the final say on most of these films, given his close relationship with Shanghai Film Group, China Film Group, and Wanda Group, who wouldn't give him face if he asked?
The thought of this made Yu Dong feel numb.

He could almost see how Bona's future films would face pressure in terms of screenings and how passive they would be in terms of revenue sharing.

More importantly, Ruixing Cinemas has Ruishijie as its backer, boasting strong financial resources, and its subsequent expansion speed will definitely be much faster than Bona's...

Thinking of his previous arrogance and those underhanded tricks, Yu Dong felt dizzy and wanted to slap himself a few times.

"grass!"

He blurted out a curse, and he was utterly speechless with despair.

Why were you so blinded by greed and offended Lü Rui?

Now things are really messed up; there's probably no way to escape the retaliation and suppression that's about to follow...

Coincidentally, Lu Chuan, who was preparing for "Nanjing! Nanjing!", was even more pale at this moment!
The moment he saw the news that "Nanjing Photo Studio" had passed censorship, he knew that this was definitely a work that Lü Rui had specifically used to target him.

If he's only using his work to attack others, even if he lacks confidence, he can simply take off his underwear and wave the white flag, or follow others and change the release date.

But now, the establishment of Ruixing Cinema Line has made him extremely upset.

Especially after seeing the analyses from netizens and industry experts online, he felt a tightness in his chest and nausea, as if he had swallowed a fly.

"Ruishijie's film production capabilities are already top-notch, and now it also owns core terminal cinema chains. Isn't this just self-production and self-sales?"

"Wrong! Utterly wrong! What's so great about self-production and self-sales? What's truly impressive is that this move has directly seized control of the industry's discourse power."

"That's right! From now on, if anyone dares to offend Ruishijie, their movies will be rejected from release. Let's see if you're scared!"

"With the power of the theaters, we can force distributors and producers to make concessions. Even if we're dealing with someone like Zhang Weiping, Ruishijie's commercial film production capabilities are strong enough that we're not afraid of not having good movies... Holy crap! This move is brilliant!"

"Top-tier production + top-tier theaters, holy crap? Does this instantly elevate Ruishijie to the top position under the national government?"

"Why does this feel like a monopoly?"

"Fortunately, Ruishijie's distribution capabilities aren't that strong. Otherwise, after this series of operations, I really can't imagine how other private film and television companies in China could compare with them?"

"Those who had conflicts with Ruishijie before must be panicking by now, right?"

"..."

Lu Chuan became increasingly uneasy the more she looked at it.

Every comment felt like a needle, piercing his heart.

The worst-case scenario even uncontrollably flashed through his mind:

If Lü Rui deliberately suppressed the screenings of "Nanjing! Nanjing!" when it was released, wouldn't his painstakingly prepared film be completely wasted?
Fortunately, his film also had investment from Star Media.

In May 2002, Stellar Media partnered with China Film Group to establish China's first cinema chain management company.

With Starlight Cinemas and China Film Starlight Cinema Line backing him up, he should at least be spared large-scale suppression and censorship, which is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

Calming herself down, Lu Chuan forced herself to calm down and turned her attention back to "Nanjing Photo Studio," beginning to think of a solution.

Compared to subsequent theatrical releases, this unknown opponent is clearly his most formidable enemy at present!
The key issue is that he still doesn't understand what the "enemy" is.
"A Nanjing photo studio? You mean it's just a small story about a photo studio in Nanjing? That can't compare to my large-scale war scenes... right?!"

Meanwhile, Yu Dong and Lu Chuan were still pondering how to deal with any potential attacks or targeting.
Meanwhile, Wu Kebo, who was also planning to establish a cinema chain but was unable to obtain a cinema license, and had to spend a lot of money to acquire Golden Harvest in Hong Kong, was very upset after seeing the news.

"What the hell? Why? Why can Lü Rui get a cinema license while I beg from all sides and spend money everywhere and still can't get one? It's not fair! This is blatant targeting!" He roared, sweeping the documents off the table, his resentment and anger almost overflowing.

He tried many things to establish a cinema chain, but to no avail.

But now, Lu Rui's sudden emergence makes all his efforts seem utterly laughable.

Wu Kebo's outburst quickly spread throughout the industry and reached the ears of Wang Zhongjun at Huayi Brothers.

"Ha, a piece of trash promoted to the forefront by the Japanese devils, still wants to get a movie license in mainland cinemas? That's just wishful thinking!"

Wang Zhongjun scoffed, his tone full of disdain.

Hearing his own brother's complaints, Wang Zhonglei wanted to join in the criticism of Wu Kebo, who had poached a large number of artists from Huayi Brothers, but he hesitated before speaking:
"But I received news that Orange Sky has already invested in Golden Harvest and will soon obtain the cinema chain license. At that time, won't it still be able to smoothly operate a cinema chain in mainland China through a shell company?"

“It’s no use.” Wang Zhongjun shook his head with great certainty. “He can only be smug for a few days at the beginning. He’ll be finished soon.”

"why?"

"Because art is always linked to politics, the higher-ups will never allow a Japanese-owned company to grow and expand; this is a bottom line issue."

After hearing this, Wang Zhonglei suddenly realized what was going on, and his gaze toward his older brother became more respectful.

When it comes to grasping the big picture, he is indeed far inferior to his brother; he can never quite see through some of the essential aspects of things.

Just like now, after discussing Orange Sky, he changed the subject and brought up something he had been thinking about lately:

"So when should we confront Lü Rui and buy back the Huayi shares he holds?"

"Why are you so fixated on this?" Wang Zhongjun frowned, his tone already tinged with anger.

"I just can't stand him. Fan Bingbing's contract termination is definitely related to him. Our Huayi is aiming for an IPO, and then he'll just take advantage of us for nothing."

"madness!"

Wang Zhongjun could no longer hold back and angrily rebuked: "She's just a female celebrity. If she leaves, so be it. We can just train another one. Do we lack people or resources?"

But do you know what the price is for breaking ties with Lü Rui now?

This means we won't have a chance to participate in Ruishijie's business, all our artists will be blacklisted, and the screenings of our films will be suppressed...

On the contrary, as long as he remains a shareholder of Huayi, he will not deliberately target us, and we may even have opportunities to cooperate.

Use your pig brain to think about what's important and what's not!
If you can't even see the basics of interests, and you're always led by your emotions, how can I entrust the film and television business to you?
You're 37 this year, and Lu Rui is only 25! You're a whole generation older than him! Yet your mentality isn't as mature as a young person's. Do you think you have anything to be proud of?"

The angry rebuke was like a thunderclap, leaving Wang Zhonglei red-faced and his head tucked in so tightly that he didn't dare to even breathe.

At the same time, this scolding not only woke him up, but also made him realize that Ruishijie and Lü Rui were no longer entities that he could provoke at will.

Lü Rui's influence is even enough to affect Huayi's future!
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong film and television industry was already in chaos.

Their film market became commercialized much earlier than that of mainland China. Therefore, no one knows better than them just how powerful a force that controls the cinemas is.

Golden Harvest, Entertainment Entertainment, Golden Princess, Shaw Brothers, Broadway... These former industry giants were once an indelible shadow in the hearts of countless Hong Kong filmmakers, controlling the life and death of their works.

It is no exaggeration to say that, in the eyes of most Hong Kong investors, Lu Rui has now become an independent force!

Although it is not as large as the Beijing film circle, its deterrent effect on Hong Kong filmmakers is no less!

This has led many to reflect on whether, if they continue to maintain a tough stance, they will be manipulated and controlled by Lü Rui once they move north to enter the mainland market.
In an instant, their former arrogance gradually dissipated in the face of the absolute difference in strength, replaced by deep anxiety and unease...

At this time, the most successful person in the Hong Kong entertainment circle was Yinghuang.

The stronger Lv Rui's momentum, the more solid the foundation of Rui Vision, the more stable the cooperation between the two companies, and the more solid Yinghuang's foothold in the mainland market.

Especially after the box office success of "New World", countless people in the Hong Kong entertainment circle were eyeing this lucrative opportunity with great envy.

They might outwardly feign disdain, but inwardly they'd be making all sorts of calculations.

After all, that's real cash; who wouldn't love it?
With the Hong Kong entertainment market shrinking, those who don't seize the opportunity to move north and find a strong foothold will inevitably be eliminated sooner or later.

Despite the many people who constantly say that "people in mainland China are all country bumpkins," leading companies like Edko Films, China Star, and Media Asia have already quietly begun collaborating with mainland companies.

Only a bunch of old fogies who are too old to work and occupy positions without doing anything would stubbornly maintain the so-called "respectability of the Hong Kong entertainment circle".

Little did they know, this behavior was utterly foolish!
"Wenxi, take these two scripts from Ruishijie and submit them for review as soon as possible. I'll leave the coordination to you. Remember, if they have any requests, as long as they're not too unreasonable, do your best to meet them."

Yang Shoucheng handed over the two scripts, "Ip Man" and "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil," on the table in front of him to Huo Wenxi.

"Okay, Chairman Yang, I'll arrange it right away."

Huo Wenxi took the script, knowing exactly what to do.

In the previous drama "New World", she included many artists from Yinghuang.

Even if it's just a supporting role or extra, the feedback is still very good.

While it doesn't quite reach the point of skyrocketing popularity and fame, it at least brings a real boost to the artist's status, which is far more valuable than acting in low-budget films in the Hong Kong film industry.

Now, Vision has submitted two more projects, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should continue the "mainland as the main focus, Hong Kong as a supporting project" model.

She didn't seem to mind at all.

After all, having acting opportunities and access to Ruishijie's resources is better than letting artists sit idle.

So what if it's a supporting role? You know, there are still many Hong Kong actors who can't even get a chance to play a supporting role right now...

(End of this chapter)