Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 304 Terrifying Profits, Undeterred
Yunnan Insect Valley's performance exceeded everyone's expectations, breaking 300 million in a single day and aiming for 2 billion.

Chen Shouzhe and Wanda were naturally delighted. Shouzhe Pictures had a 70% stake in the company, while Wanda had a 30% stake. Now, Chen Shouzhe held a 25% stake in Wanda Pictures, which meant that Chen Shouzhe would have to share 25% of the profits Wanda Pictures made.

Chen Shouzhe's current collaboration with Wanda Pictures is essentially a transfer of assets from one hand to the other. He's just waiting for Wanda Pictures to resume trading and go public, at which point the stock price will definitely rise.

At least the outside world is optimistic about this powerful alliance.

Wanda Pictures' business has been doing well thanks to its film investments. Now that Chen Shouzhe has become a major shareholder, will Wanda Pictures' performance be any worse in the future?
There must be some projects involved. The shareholders are very happy with Lao Wang's decision and are all waiting for the resumption of trading and listing.

On the other hand, there were naturally unhappy companies. At the company meeting on Monday, the atmosphere was visibly tense.

With the release of "Yunnan Insect Valley," it also means that two other films will be taken off the screens, with two weeks remaining before they are removed.

The Little Mermaid and The Wandering Earth.

The Mermaid Light Media was not involved; the three parties were Shou Zhe Pictures, Emperor Entertainment, and Star Overseas, both of which are Hong Kong-based companies.

The Wandering Earth has a larger share, with Enlight Media having a stake, as well as China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group. The investment was 400 million yuan, and it has now grossed 45 billion yuan domestically. With two more weeks to go, it is expected to gross over 100 million yuan more. The Mermaid has grossed 33 billion yuan, but 34 billion yuan is out of reach.

The overseas box office figures have already been released. The Mermaid grossed 7000 million US dollars overseas, mainly from the Southeast Asian market. After all, Stephen Chow is a big name in Southeast Asia, and with the addition of Chan Sau-yee, there was some box office revenue overseas, totaling around 5 million.

But The Wandering Earth is different. It has grossed over 45 billion yuan domestically and over 6.3 million US dollars overseas, which is about 41 billion yuan in box office revenue. In other words, it has grossed over 80 billion yuan in total.

They calculate the exact amount of light they receive every day, but the more they calculate, the more disheartened they become.

Having lost its ally in the film industry, will Enlight Media still be able to access these big projects in the future?

Moreover, it's clear that The Wandering Earth will have a sequel, so Enlight Media will definitely be out of the picture, and even China Film Group and others will be out of the picture.

Even penguins have been let in by Chen Shou. Can the film and television industry compare to the internet industry?

“As Chen Shouzhe grows stronger, the allies he needs will also become stronger. Enlight Media can no longer keep up. Wanda Pictures has perfectly replaced us. Moreover, Yunnan Insect Valley also shows that once a film's IP is established, as long as the reputation doesn't collapse, the film can make money based on audience word-of-mouth even without promotion,” someone within Enlight Media analyzed.

"After The Wandering Earth is no longer showing in theaters, will we have no further cooperation with Shouzhe Pictures?" a director asked.

"Yes, there is no longer any business dealings," the general manager of Guangxian nodded.

"Chairman Wang, you owe all the shareholders an explanation. Because of your wrong decision, we have become estranged from Shouzhe Pictures. We initially agreed to Chen Shouzhe's investment in Enlight Media, but you strongly opposed it, which led to Chen Shouzhe's investment in Wanda Pictures. You bear the main responsibility," the director said sternly.

Wang Changtian's expression was not good; his usual refined demeanor was gone. He had also suffered greatly over the past year. He never expected that Chen Shouzhe would only give him one chance. No matter how much he pleaded afterward, it was useless. Chen Shouzhe had already given up on Enlight Media and chosen Wanda, which had the highest market value.

“I understand. I will write a self-criticism and reduce my salary,” Wang Changtian said.

Seeing his good attitude of self-reflection, the other directors didn't know what to say. They couldn't force Wang Changtian to step down, could they? No one was more suitable than Wang Changtian, the founder. It's just that his decision was wrong, not that he caused Enlight Media to lose money.

Enlight Media is still profitable. Its relationship with the film industry over the years has only increased its profits, even though that business has been cut, like with *The Wandering Earth*. After deducting miscellaneous expenses from the 80 billion yuan revenue, based on a 34 billion yuan revenue share, Enlight Media would receive around 5.1%, and that's just a rough estimate.

That's a net profit of 4.7 million. Earning so much from just one movie means losing the studio, which means losing that much money. The financial reports after the first season won't look as good.

"I will discuss it with Chen Shouzhe again and try my best to persuade him." Wang Changtian thought for a moment and felt that he should do something.

The board members nodded. If Chen Shou could re-establish a relationship with Enlight Media, that would be ideal. But what does Enlight Media have now? They weren't really optimistic about it.

Chen Shou was beaming with joy. The Yunnan Insect Valley project had been a success and had stabilized; there shouldn't be any major problems with the subsequent box office performance.

The last film was successfully released, but unfortunately only three were made before it was cancelled. If all of them had been filmed earlier, it might have brought more profits to Shou Zhe Film Studio.

"Now you can rest assured."

Chen Shouzhe was also in a meeting, with the company's senior executives present, as well as Wuershan and Guo Fan, among others.

Everyone's faces were beaming with smiles; the company was making money, and naturally, they would get a share of the profits.

Although they didn't have any shares, Chen Shouzhe gave them quite a lot, so they didn't crave shares anymore; making money was enough for them.

Look at Zhong Lifan. She has achieved a small goal, which is the kind of income that can only be seen in Fortune 500 companies. In a small film and television company, Zhong Lifan's income is definitely extraordinary.

"Breaking 20 billion is no problem. It's a pity that such a good IP has been wasted. I hope Tencent will produce a good film and not ruin such a good IP." Wuershan was happy at first, but then he became worried again. After all, it was a big IP movie he created. It was only three movies. The later chapters were actually just rushing to finish the script. Now it seems that Tencent can only benefit from it.

"Don't you still have Journey to the West? You're not short of good projects," Guo Fan said with a smile.

Wuershan smiled. He had indeed obtained the IP that Wuershan wanted most. Compared to Ghost Blows Out the Light, he had long coveted Journey to the West.

"Huang Bo's film is scheduled to start shooting at the end of April. He is still in the pre-production stage. The current topic of discussion is director Guo Fan," Zhong Lifan said.

"Me? What do I have?" Guo Fan laughed.

“Although the movie hasn’t finished showing yet, it’s almost over. The Wandering Earth 2 should also be started. When do you plan to start it?” Zhong Lifan asked.

"We can submit the script for approval first. As for project approval, I think it will be around October. We might need to select actors to join at that time," Guo Fan said.

"October..." Chen Shou thought about the possibility of shooting a patriotic film in October. It seemed that his company was operating at full speed.

The animated feature film Kung Fu Panda is set to be released in June, two Infernal Affairs films are set to be released in July, and The Divine Doctor is set to be released in August. However, it seems that no films will be released by the end of this year. Journey to the West will not be released in time, The Wandering Earth 2 will not be released in time, and Huang Bo's film may be released during the Lunar New Year holiday season. Perhaps he will have to give up the Spring Festival season, or he may have to release a small animated film instead.

If those people in the film industry knew about the film studio's movie plans, they'd probably be cursing again.

(End of this chapter)