Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 243 The Lurking Penguin

The miracle doctor was making preparations quietly. Those who knew about it signed confidentiality agreements, and there was little information from the outside world. No one knew that Chen Shou had plans for the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, things were getting incredibly lively in Hong Kong, mainly because of the film collaboration with Chan Sau-cheung, which excited a group of Hong Kong media outlets.

Chen Shouzhe's choice to cooperate with Emperor Entertainment Group in Hong Kong raises questions: Is he trying to align himself with Hong Kong capital? Does he intend to immigrate to Hong Kong? Is he more optimistic about the Hong Kong market? Is he going to participate in the Hong Kong Film Awards?

When this news reached the mainland, Chen Shouzhe felt that the people there were out of their minds.

Why not just be a foolish Celestial Dragon and behave yourself? Why do you have to cause trouble?

Moreover, someone recently told him not to get too close to Hong Kong.

Chen Shou thought to himself, "What's it to you? Stop pointing fingers and making irresponsible remarks."

If it weren't for the background setting, would he have chosen Hong Kong?

Those people are too arrogant. Chen Shou is too lazy to pay attention to them, but it will affect his reputation and make netizens in mainland China think that he is a traitor.

After discussing it with Zhong Lifan, they decided to issue an announcement. After all, it concerned Chen Shouzhe's reputation, and they had to respond. Otherwise, if he made money based on his reputation and did not do it well, he would be boycotted by the whole country.

[Our company's collaboration with Emperor Entertainment Group today is a normal business transaction. Multiple media outlets have deliberately reported and sensationalized unreasonable facts, seriously damaging the reputation of our Chairman, Director Chen Shouzhe...]

The situation is escalating, the company has issued a statement, and Chen Shouzhe's Weibo account has also been updated.

[Even a normal business collaboration can involve so many issues. Does this mean all cross-regional business will be impossible in the future? It's already 2017; surely no one is still living in the past.]

Chen Shouzhe's sarcastic Weibo posts have angered and embarrassed some people. Chen Shouzhe is clearly saying that they are opportunists who listen to whoever says what.

For a time, people started to speak sarcastically, saying that Chen Shou was trying to get closer to Hong Kong, and even those who were supposed to be immigrants shut up, because if they spoke up again, they would be accused of having an IQ problem.

Of course, there are also some eye-catching self-media outlets that are still tirelessly discussing this matter.

So Weibo banned a lot of accounts. Every single one of these people was sued by Shouying Film Company. Anyway, the annual legal fees are quite high, so just let them do their work.

Damaging his reputation is tantamount to cutting off his source of income. If we don't target them, who else can we target?

However, the collaboration with Emperor Entertainment Group still displeased many people. It's one thing to monopolize the profits, but to give them to outsiders instead of one's own people?
To these people, Chen Shou only had one question: Why didn't you think of me for your project?

I wouldn't even give it to a dog. Why don't you look at your own problems? Why would I rather give it to a dog than to you?

Who exactly is the traitor?

Chen Shou rejected all the messages, whether they were sent openly or covertly. Unspoken rules exist everywhere, but in the film and television industry, the most basic unspoken rule is the exchange of sex for money; the most advanced unspoken rule is personal connections.

Chen Shou cursed Suo Hai for his moral blackmail, getting angry and jumping up and down but unable to do anything about it. He could only watch him make money and squeak and yell in the sewers.

Doing this would definitely offend people, especially petty people, so Chen Shou was walking on thin ice, hoping to have more say in the future.

Why did he target Wanda Cinemas? To put it bluntly, Wanda Cinemas has the power to control these people and shut them up.

Huang Bo emerged as the biggest winner in May. Chen Shou had no films scheduled for release in June and July, as major film companies were vying for those slots. Wu Jing was finally sent to lead the charge on July 27th. Wang Changtian then came knocking again.

The same question remains: how will Wu Jing's film be distributed? Currently, Wanda and China Film Group are confirmed as the two parties. Wang Changtian is very anxious because he is the producer, but Chen Shouzhe holds 50% of the shares, which means he has veto power. Among the other investors, China Film Group and Wanda will naturally side with Chen Shouzhe. As for Wu Jing, he will definitely choose Chen Shouzhe over Enlight Media.

Faced with Enlight Media's exclusion from the publishing industry, Wang Changtian felt increasingly regretful about his actions. Although the quarterly financial report looked pretty good now, after all, the first quarter had the support of "Hello Mr. Billionaire" and "Mojin: The Lost Legend," making the financial report look very good, the lack of Enlight Media in subsequent releases meant he could only watch helplessly as Chen Shou made money.

Movies make money not only from box office revenue, but also from copyright, product placement, and so on.

Before the movie's release, there are also pre-roll ads. Chen Shouzhe's movie pre-roll ads have already cost tens of millions. If it is a sci-fi blockbuster, the price of pre-roll ads has already exceeded 100 million. It is not just about recouping costs through box office revenue.

It's fair to say that movies can generate a lot of revenue. While cinemas may take more than 50% of the box office, making their money is a one-off deal. Although the production company receives less, they still receive a steady stream of income from various sources.

Movie theaters are lucky if they can sell popcorn; they don't really have much income from other sources, while their actual expenses are huge.

"He evaded it again this time."

Inside Huayi, Wang Zonglei sighed.

"Did you do this?" Wang Zongjun asked unhappily.

"No, it's other people. After all, he eats too much, and many people don't like him, not just us," Wang Zonglei shook his head and denied.

"That's good. There's no need to target him. Let him be arrogant now, and one day he'll get into trouble. Then we'll just need to give him a light tap and he'll be doomed," Wang Zongjun said.

Compared to Wang Zonglei's constant petty tricks, Wang Zongjun was the one who truly went all out.

He will strike a fatal blow if the enemy makes a mistake, and will never give them a second chance. Moreover, he already has a new plan.

Those who lived through that chaotic era experienced a darkness far beyond what we see today.

Neither of the brothers is a good person, and they no longer have the final say in the film market.

They didn't have the power to accomplish anything; on the contrary, the internet, with its unique channels of influence, was constantly eroding their original market share.

As one of the most profitable companies in the film and television industry, Shouzhe Pictures has a plethora of opportunities, which are the resources they need. At this very moment, Chen Shouzhe is meeting with representatives from Tencent at the company.

Tencent's entry into the market is no later than Alibaba's.

Many people probably don't know this, but back when Chen Shouzhe first debuted, Tencent had already invested in a media company, namely Sony Media.

The media company was founded in 2007 and entered the film industry in 2010. When Chen Shouzhe was filming his first movie, he went to this company to ask for investment.

Xinli was one of the companies that ousted him from the company. Afterwards, Xinli's people apologized to him and hoped to invest in Chen Shouzhe. However, they never cooperated again after that. In fact, Chen Shouzhe even thwarted many of Xinli's film collaborations.

In 11, Tencent entered the market with a strategic move into Sony. Over the years, Tencent has been steadily eroding the company's resources, and it is estimated that it will soon be able to successfully take over Sony's operations.

It has to be said that this is a company with pretty good production capabilities, but it doesn't make that much money. It's the kind of company that's so busy that it doesn't even know what it's accomplished.

(End of this chapter)