Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 162 Wanda is the real partner, compensation

"Let the Bullets Fly" was released in December, and its box office revenue is calculated for this year. Even if it's released after January, it's still counted as 15's box office revenue. Only movies released in January are counted as the following year's box office revenue.

In other words, starting with Painted Skin 2, Chen Shou's company has produced a total of five films, which may have grossed between 5 billion and 6 billion yuan.

Of course, the company certainly didn't earn that much, but if you do the math, you can easily calculate how much they made.

This profit is even higher than that of listed companies. No production company has ever made so much money in the film industry, at least not in the history of China.

Making one blockbuster out of ten movies is already profitable; making all five movies profitable is terrifying. Add to that overseas income, and nobody knows how rich Chen Shou is. His company isn't listed on the stock exchange. If it were, its valuation would be around 20 billion, considering the company's current scale: one is film production, another is Little Dream, plus the affiliated Yang Mi Studio.

The total price won't be too high, but the potential is limitless, and everyone is envious. It would be great if they could acquire it.

"Let the Bullets Fly" is still showing in theaters. "The Villain Angel" dropped to over 20 million on its sixth day, while "Old Scoundrel" has remained stable, hovering between 30 and 40 million.

Let the Bullets Fly grossed 6.67 million yuan in its first week, and the box office is expected to remain at around 80-90 million yuan. It is expected to surpass 100 million yuan during holidays, and its reputation is getting better and better. However, it is not very attractive to women. Many older men like this movie, and the older they are, the more they enjoy watching movies.

Many people watched it two or three times and wrote many reviews online.

The movie's popularity has spawned many memes and jokes.

However, on January 1st, a piece of news spread throughout the film and television industry, shocking countless people, and even Lao Wang expressed his shock.

Xiao Wang even posted a joke about the matter on Weibo, which caused quite a stir.

Because Ye Ning, the original CEO of Wanda Pictures, switched jobs. After her contract expired, she did not renew it with Wanda and simply left without saying goodbye.

Meanwhile, Huayi Brothers announced that Ye Ning has joined their company as the general manager of the film department, primarily responsible for film production.

When this news came out, many industry insiders found it unbelievable.

Wanda Cinemas was at its peak, ranking first in the country and even among the top in the world. Unexpectedly, their CEO left without saying goodbye, leaving as soon as his contract expired.

Even Lao Wang was astonished, saying that he didn't know and hadn't told him beforehand.

Chen Shou went on vacation, taking his parents and Yu Qian's family with him. Yesterday, he attended the Deyun Society's New Year's Eve performance, and in the afternoon, they took a flight from the capital to a southern island for a vacation.

I have to say the climate here is really great. In the capital, I don't want to go outside because the wind is so strong, over level 40, it almost blew the well out of the house. Here, I can wear short sleeves.

Chen Shouzhe also rented a cruise ship and took his whole family out to sea for a day.

"I was at sea just now, and my phone had no signal. What's wrong?" Chen Shou returned to shore and found many missed calls on his phone, so he called them back.

"Did you know that Ye Ning resigned and went to Huayi?" The call was from Xiao Wang. He had called yesterday, but Chen Shou was on a plane and had been busy since arriving here, so he didn't have time to check his phone. He went to watch the sunrise at sea early this morning and didn't return until noon, so he finally picked up his phone.

"Didn't we go yesterday?" Chen Shou asked with a smile.

"You already knew?" Xiao Wang asked.

"Yes, I found out about it around May or June last year, before the Shanghai International Film Festival," Chen Shou said.

"How did you know? Why didn't you say so sooner?" Xiao Wang said.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? They contacted me secretly. It's normal for them to change locations. Ye Ning only left after her contract expired. Look at the people in my company, they just leave without a word, and they even took a lot of people with them. What can I do? You agree, right?" Chen Shou said with a smile.

“You’re quite easygoing; he just left without saying a word,” Xiao Wang said.

"Just find someone to fill in. Can't such a big company find someone?" Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Ye Ning is gone. What are your plans now?" Xiao Wang asked tentatively.

"What does it matter if he's gone? I'm cooperating with Wanda, not him. Do you think it's possible for me to cooperate with Huayi? Based on Ye Ning's abilities?" Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Okay, I'm relieved to hear that. Wanda will have someone to coordinate with you." Xiao Wang felt at ease.

Chen Shouzhe is Wanda's best partner. Wanda has never lost money on any of Chen Shouzhe's projects. If Wanda's cooperation with Chen Shouzhe ends because of Ye Ning, it will be a significant blow to Wanda.

Hearing Chen Shou's assurance, Xiao Wang finally felt at ease.

Despite his claims that he won't inherit the family business, Wanda is just a facade for him to the outside world; how could he possibly sever ties with it?

Ye Ning's departure from Wanda only caused a sensation in the film and television industry. To outsiders, it was just someone leaving a company and switching to another one, nothing special.

However, this is good news for stock market investors. Many people know Ye Ning's talent, and they expect him to lead Huayi back to the peak of Huayi Film.

Hua Yi was overjoyed, and many people in the industry sent their congratulations. Someone even went to Chen Shouzhe's latest Weibo post to ask a question.

"After Ye Ning left Wanda Pictures, will Shou Zhe Pictures cooperate with Huayi Brothers?" This is clearly a question asked by someone in the industry or by the media; otherwise, who would be so bored as to ask such a question?

“Wanda is the best partner for Shouzhe Pictures,” Chen Shouzhe replied.

Just as Huayi was celebrating and its stock price had risen slightly, its stock price instantly turned green after responding to this Weibo post.

Ye Ning is indeed capable, but the problem is that many of her achievements, even her greatest accomplishments, come from managing the film industry.

Now everyone in the industry understands that when Ye Ning left Wanda, she took some resources with her, but the biggest resource—her relationships with the film company—was something she couldn't take with her.

Wanda has always been the one working with Chen Shou, not Ye Ning.

With Tao Le also leaving to join Huayi, it's safe to say that Chen Shouzhe and Huayi are practically on the verge of making their relationship public, so how could they possibly cooperate?

Previously, when Huayi introduced Ye Ning's resume to shareholders in its announcement, it mentioned many times that Ye Ning produced and produced the most eye-catching film, The Martian, which grossed 42 billion yuan, as well as some other films. This resume is incredibly dazzling when placed on the PPT.

Now Chen Shouju has shut me down with just one sentence. Does he want to take resources from me?
Just dream.

No one in the film and television industry expected Chen Shouzhe to be so ruthless, directly pinning Ye Ning to death.

To be precise, it was telling Huayi, "Don't try to freeload; we have no relationship."

Even if Ye Ning goes to Huayi, she can't take anything from me. Get lost.

Ye Ning, who had already joined Huayi, never expected Chen Shouzhe to be so ruthless and to have such a big conflict with Huayi, and she was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

However, even after joining Huayi, he still diligently fulfilled his duties.

But he soon discovered that after Huayi removed the single-film approach, the films were really too weak, leaving him with a mess.

After Chen Shouzhe posted the message, many people called to tease him, saying he was too ruthless. Huayi's stock turned green again, which was supposed to be good news, but it was directly killed.

The general public only then learned what had happened, and many felt that Ye Ning was unethical.

They even felt that Huayi's poaching of talent had angered Chen Shouzhe, since their company's general manager had been poached in the same way and was now working with Ye Ning to save Huayi's film.

They only realize they need to dig a latrine when they need to poop. Huayi is now completely filthy, having completely forgotten how it got listed in the first place.

However, the two brothers and those shareholders have already made a fortune, while the only ones who lose money are the retail investors.

Chen Shou continued his vacation in the south, enjoying seafood and beer, having a great time.

After a week of fun, they returned home, just in time to run into Jiang Wen, who was also returning to the capital with her propaganda team. Chen Shouzhe and Yang Shoucheng hosted a welcome dinner for them in the capital.

"Director Jiang, you've all worked hard." Yang Shoucheng greeted everyone. Although he only had 20% of the box office, the second week's box office was 5.37 million, and the two-week box office was 12.04 billion. The movie made a lot of money. It might not reach 2 billion, but he still made a lot of money.

"Mr. Yang, you don't need to be so polite. Even if someone is going to treat us, it shouldn't be you who's paying. Someone else should be the one to treat us," Jiang Wen laughed.

"No problem, I'll treat you." Chen Shou said, spreading his hands. He earned more and paid less, so he should give back some money. Otherwise, who would want to play with him in the future?

It's like a group of people playing mahjong. Winning feels bad, and losing feels bad. If you spend some of your money to treat someone to a meal, even if they feel bad, they'll want to do it again.

That's why some casinos offer such great perks; you can eat and drink for free, and even if you lose, you'll feel like it was worth it.

If you earn so much and don't share some of it, others will think you're stingy and unfair. Even if there's a contract, you still have to spend what you need to spend; that's just how things are.

"Wow, how did it get so dark?" Jiang Wen was startled when she saw Chen Shouzhe.

"We went to the beach for a few days, so today it's my treat. Eat whatever you want," Chen Shou said happily.

"Definitely, we'll eat his food, and bring out all the good wine."

After eating and drinking their fill, Chen Shouzhe, Yang Shoucheng, and Jiang Wen sat in a small private room in the hotel. Everyone else had gone back to their rooms, leaving only the three of them sitting there with whiskey in front of them.

"We've decided to compensate you. The cost of the reshoot will be reimbursed proportionally. I'll reimburse you 50%, Boss Yang will reimburse 20%, and the remaining 30% will be a lesson for you," Chen Shou said with a smile.

“Okay, I won’t postpone it. The China Film Group side doesn’t count, right?” Jiang Wen said.

"Well, they are state-owned enterprises after all, so it's not easy for them to take money from us. They have made a lot of money over the years, and I will reduce their share in the future," Chen Shou nodded.

Hearing Chen Shouzhe say this, Jiang Wen and Yang Shoucheng's eyes lit up.

If they keep the films produced by China Film Group, they've never lost money. If China Film Group cuts its share, will they be able to grab some of the better resources?
(End of this chapter)