Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 438 Ode to the Tang Dynasty, Lament for Huayi

On December 20th, just before the end of 2018, the film market remained bustling.

Aside from the Hollywood superhero film "Aquaman," which was released at the beginning of the month and enjoyed a phenomenal run, raking in over a billion dollars at the box office.

Today, two domestic companies, Datang Pictures and Huayi Brothers, both have new films being released.

Since last year, Datang Pictures has been gradually increasing its investment in film projects and has been intentionally or unintentionally clashing with Huayi Brothers. The sensitive professionals in the film and television industry have all sensed the animosity between the two companies.

Last December, the competition between "Better Days" and "Youth" was already quite fierce.

I felt the same way this time.

Chen Sicheng's "Sheep Without a Shepherd" versus Feng Xiaogang's "Only Cloud Knows" represents both a challenge from a younger generation of directors to their seniors and a second move by Datang Pictures against Huayi Brothers.

However, the result was beyond everyone's expectations.

"Only Cloud Knows" grossed 6100 million yuan in its first three days, while "Sheep Without a Shepherd" grossed 2.1 million yuan!
Filmgoers described the former as: "a sentimental, pretentious art film," "incomprehensible," and "an overseas tourism promotional video"...

The latter's reviews included: "There's a twist after a twist," "Although it's a remake, the actors' performances are really good," and "Chen Sicheng is quite good at suspense films"...

Both in terms of performance and reputation, the difference in quality is immediately apparent.

The following week, due to contractual obligations, theaters managed to get through the first four working days to make up a full week before cutting "Yun Knows" screenings by two-thirds.

The screenings of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" were increased by a third on the first day of its release the following week, and continued to increase over the weekend.

Screening schedules are the lifeline of box office revenue, and this outcome will determine the final box office trajectory of the two films.

……

Inside the chairman's office of Datang Pictures.

Chen Xiu leaned back on the sofa, listening to Wei Feng's work report while pondering other work-related matters.

His fingers tapped slowly on the armrest until Wei Feng gave him a message that made him pause in thought, at which point he stopped.

"...According to forecasts, Huayi's net profit this year should be negative, and the amount is not small. The institution claims that Huayi's cash flow is no longer able to cover short-term repayments."

"This little commotion won't seriously damage them."

Chen Xiu waved her hand dismissively, having great confidence in Huayi's vitality.

Wei Feng asked in bewilderment: "Huayi's current situation necessitates seeking new capital injections. Issuing shares in one direction is unlikely to work. They can only rely on loans to repay their debts. What if they can't borrow?"

"It's not that bad. Their resources are still there, so even if they die, it will be delayed."

Chen Xiu thought to herself: This kind of desperate struggle can only be done once. If I want to borrow money to make ends meet again next year, no one will believe me.

He didn't pay much attention to Huayi's predictable outcome.

"Never mind them, tell me about our company's situation this year."

"Ok."

Wei Feng took another document and, with a joyful expression, reported a series of good news.

"This year, the company produced three films: 'Detective Chinatown 2,' 'The Long Way Home,' and 'Sheep Without a Shepherd.' Among them, 'Detective Chinatown 2' grossed 38.5 billion yuan, and the company's share of the box office was 6.55 million yuan (the investment accounted for 50%, and various other revenue sharing details are not listed). After deducting costs, the profit was 5.55 million yuan."

"The box office of 'The Journey Home' was 33.2 billion yuan after its theatrical run. The company invested 60% of the film and received 7.2 million yuan in box office revenue. After deducting costs, the profit was 6 million yuan."

"Sheep Without a Shepherd is still showing in theaters. Its box office in the second week was 4.1 million yuan, and its cumulative box office reached 6.3 million yuan. The final box office is expected to be about 11.5 billion yuan."

"Besides these three films, the box office settlement for 'Better Days,' which was released last year, was scheduled for this year, and the share after deducting costs was 1.9 million yuan."

"The film content generated a profit of 13.1 billion yuan for the whole year before the end of the year; the remaining profit from TV series and web series is around 5 million yuan, of which 'The Xuanwu Gate Incident' accounted for 60% of the total profit. The advertising revenue sharing with iQiyi and Tencent in the fourth quarter has not yet been settled."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu's expression shifted slightly, indicating that she was quite satisfied with Datang Film Industry's profitability.

Although Datang's revenue and profit cannot compare with Douyin's, Douyin has tens of thousands of employees, while Datang only has a few dozen, making its revenue-to-profit ratio much higher.

After listening to this year's MVP results, Chen Xiu, who is used to strategic planning, started paying attention to next year's plans.

"Please briefly describe the project from 19."

"Ok."

Picking up the third document, Wei Feng's expression lost its earlier joy.

Chen Xiu frowned in confusion: "What's wrong? Are the plans for next year bad?"

"Not really. In terms of web series and TV dramas, thanks to our cooperation with those companies, our output is higher than the total output of this year and last year combined. It's just that the movies are a bit disappointing."

"Um???"

No way?
Don't talk nonsense!
With "The Wandering Earth" and "Ne Zha" both on the way next year, how could any film project be lacking?

Seeing Chen Xiu's stunned and speechless expression, Wei Feng quickly corrected him:

"We have invested in and produced quite a few films. For example, we accounted for 40% of the investment in 'The Wandering Earth' during the Spring Festival and 30% of the investment in the animated film 'Ne Zha' during the summer season."

"However, we don't have a single film produced by our own company next year! The films that have already been registered, such as 'Detective Chinatown 3,' 'Endgame,' and 'A Writer's Odyssey,' are all expected to be released in 20."

Error expected...

"The only films that can truly be considered as our productions are 'White Snake,' which will be released next month, and the patriotic film 'My People, My Country'!"

So that's what it meant. Chen Xiu's eyebrows twitched slightly, but she didn't seem to care.

"Since we've taken a share of the investment, it's fine if we don't participate in the filming. How's it going with Light Chaser Animation? The animated short film of 'Black Myth' is coming out next month. If the response is good, we'll expand the story and make an animated feature film."

"That's exactly what I was going to say..."

Wei Feng looked somewhat speechless: "After receiving our investment, Wang Wei was very high-spirited. Last month, she submitted three projects at once, saying that she wanted to create a cyberpunk-style 'New Investiture of the Gods' series."

"Then, I rejected them all, and specifically told him not to think about writing his own script. Light Chaser Animation only needs to create the visuals and special effects according to the script we provide."

"Clap!"

Chen Xiu clapped her hands twice, indicating her agreement with Wei Feng's words.

"Storytelling isn't exactly Light Chaser Animation's forte, so why is Wang Wei so determined to challenge her weakness?"

"Maybe it's because the less good you are at something, the more you want to prove it!"

Wei Feng's truthful statement made Chen Xiu chuckle, and then he laughed along with him.

After laughing, Chen Xiu began to explain with a serious expression.

"Next month, we will focus the company's marketing efforts on 'White Snake' and 'Black Myth'. The animated film sector has great potential, and we are not lagging behind yet."

"clear."

"Um, how's that variety show I told you about before coming along?"

"I've communicated with Tencent. They've actually wanted to produce a social variety show about celebrities' lives for a long time. Our people are currently discussing the plan with them."

Wei Feng responded seriously, but he knew in his heart that the variety show Chen Xiu mentioned was mainly centered around Meng Ziyi.

However, there is no problem with this.

Because Meng Ziyi is indeed a natural talent for variety shows, she went to record two seasons of "Back to Field" and her popularity was the highest among the four hosts.

At the end of last month, the first episode of "Chef Nic" featuring Meng Ziyi saw its ratings soar to 0.8%, but in the last two episodes, they have dropped to 0.6%.

These things are the best proof of the variety show's popularity.

Among all the artists under Datang Pictures, none can truly rival Meng Ziyi in variety shows. (Yang Mi and Dilraba have high popularity on their own, not solely due to variety shows.)
It's rare to find a variety show personality like her, so it's perfectly reasonable for the company to create a dedicated variety show for her to cultivate her popularity.

After discussing the work, Chen Xiu nodded slightly, signaling Wei Feng to leave.

After getting up and returning to his desk, he glanced briefly at the clingy message from Nazar and then started chatting with Musk.

This soulful dancer will be flying over next month.

Chen Xiu rested her chin on her hand, thinking about how she should "entertain" this business partner.

……

Huayi, Chairman's Office.

In stark contrast to Chen Xiu's office, the atmosphere in Wang Zhongjun's office was rather oppressive. The heavy smoking of cigarettes made the enclosed space feel even more stifling.

"Cough cough."

Wang Zhonglei coughed twice with a furrowed brow and said worriedly, "Brother, the box office of 'Only Cloud Knows' is estimated to be just over 1 million. We can't even get our costs back. How are we going to talk to the bank for a loan?"

"Phew, what else can we do besides mortgaging it?"

What else can we offer as collateral?

"The box office revenue from 'The Eight Hundred' can be mortgaged in advance, Huayi's future can be mortgaged, and my artworks can also be mortgaged. In any case, Huayi must not go bankrupt."

Wang Zhongjun stubbed out his cigarette and said with unusual firmness.

Hearing him describe it so seriously, a hint of fear flashed in Wang Zhonglei's eyes: "Brother, it's not that serious, is it? If it really comes down to it, we can always ask Boss Ma for a loan to tide us over..."

"Do you think I haven't looked for them?"

Wang Zhongjun glanced at his younger brother with a helpless yet mocking expression.

“Mr. Ma is not answering my calls at all. The only person I can contact is Fan Luyuan. He has already presented the terms on behalf of Mr. Ma. Now it’s up to us to say what we have to say.”

"What conditions?"

"In addition to the basic interest and collateral, we are also required to assume joint liability, which means that even if the company goes bankrupt in the future, we will have to pay it back out of our own pockets."

"Yes, it's a bit harsh, but I can understand."

Hearing Ou Doudou's naive remarks, Wang Zhongjun's mockery deepened.

"In addition to these conditions, Fan Luyuan also required us to produce at least 10 theatrical films within 5 years, with Ali Pictures having priority investment rights, priority distribution rights, online copyright, and online ticketing cooperation rights..."

"Then aren't we just working for Ali Pictures?"

"Hehe, you finally understand."

Wang Zhongjun slumped back weakly onto the sofa, his eyes looking extremely tired and powerless.

"What else can we do? The internet has come in, and we filmmakers are really no match for them..."

(End of this chapter)