China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 215 "Your Name" (6000 words)

Mo, a slightly fat employee with round-frame glasses leaned against the workstation, poked his colleague who was still binding the modeling figures on the workstation, and said in the direction of the conference room: "Is this really a big boss here? Chen Jingxing?"

"Aren't you wearing glasses? Didn't they wave to us when they came? Are they face-blind?" Li Chun replied while building the character skeleton on the software. He was a modeler and Mo was a "old" in the company before Mo was controlled by DreamWorks.

"Didn't I go to the bathroom before? I didn't have time to see the face. I've been in the company for two months and I haven't seen the boss. Of course I'm curious." Chen Chaozhuo, wearing round-frame glasses, is currently an animation renderer. His previous job was in the game company upstairs. He was attracted by Mo's generous treatment. After passing rigorous inspections and interviews, he finally doubled his salary.

In fact, it is not only Chen Chaozhuo who is curious about him, a celebrity. Many people in the company glance at the conference room surrounded by frosted glass from time to time. Of course, it is also because two major projects in the computer animation department have been completed one after another, and everyone is currently in a state of stuttering.

Li Chun picked up the cup full of coffee and took a sip, saying, "What's the hurry? He will definitely come out to say hello to everyone after the meeting. The boss is a rare inspection and will definitely not leave after the meeting. I guess your leisure time will probably end soon, so don't worry about whether you will be swept out."

"Really? Is it a new project? I didn't hear any news." Chen Chaozhuo's fat face turned red. He had been changing jobs for more than two months. Whether it was the working environment, it mainly refers to the atmosphere, work intensity, workstation equipment, and salary. It was very satisfying to him, even better than he thought.

Although Mo has long been famous, he is supported by DreamWorks, the most glorious new force in the film and television industry. He has no worries about food and clothing, no performance pressure, and is well-fed, and has a good salary. He is already a legend in the animation circle and special effects industry.

All parties are well, but there is one thing, there is no work task.

The production of "Gravity" has a fixed working group, and the members of the three animation projects have also been well done. Chen Chaozhuo can only help a little, and is a idler who has received full salary for more than two months. This will inevitably make me feel upset.

Li Chun leaned comfortably on the ergonomic chair: "You are all over again. Have you not seen our company keeps entering people? Since DreamWorks first invested in shares, it has never stopped recruiting people. Don't think that it cost 70 million to produce three large-cost animation dramas, but it also shocked the animation industry. In fact, these are all appetizers, and there are definitely big projects to come next."

For the official, building a headquarters for such a promising high-tech cultural enterprise can not only gather high-end industrial talents, enhance the strength of the cultural industry, but also create tax revenues, which is of course undesirable.

"Who knows, but has the big boss ever missed it yet? Every movie has been successful, and the TV series has also achieved both reputation markets. Even the two animated series "Evolution" and "Warship" cannot lose money now."

Chen Chaozhuo was a little surprised and a little surprised: "Are you talking about movies? Animated movies?"

"Boss, I just said casually that the company on the 14th floor is said to have not paid the rent. I guess it has encountered relatively large difficulties in operation. If you rent this floor, there will be no problem of insufficient office space within at least two years." Mo's CEO Xu Sheng said to Chen Jingxing with a embarrassed look on his face.

The animation team led by Xiang Xuan and the screenwriters sent by DreamWorks have improved the entire script, enhancing the narrative rhythm and the big scenes of fighting. The duration of the entire movie has been 90 minutes, so there is an estimated production cost of 130 million yuan.

“Big project?”

The production cost of "The Return of the Great Sage" in the previous life plane was about 70 million, but that was because most of its production was outsourced to other domestic animation companies, with less than 30 production teams and no need to support large teams. They can turn some of the costs to outsourcing companies. In addition, investment is often cut off and it takes 4 years to intermittently, so this cost control is quite impressive.

Although Wu Han, the former animation director of Tianhe Animation and the director of the second season of "Star God" project team, did not speak out, he was also shocked.

"130 million... less than I think." Chen Jingxing looked like a big dog: "Don't have any worries. The domestic animation market is not big, but the IP of Journey to the West is different. The animation projects I asked you to make were not something I thought of after a slap in my head. I must have found a market first before I could do it."

Wu Han was also a little excited after being shocked. Before the animation series of "Star God" was completed, the movie version of "Star God" was about to be launched again? Chen Jingxing is simply his benefactor!

As for the box office of the movie "Star God" four years ago, he almost broke Tianhe Animation. He had long been so rich that even if he lost a few movies, he wouldn't be able to hurt his muscles.

Of course, considering that most Japanese animated movies are 2D animations, and "The Return of the Great Sage" is a 3D animated movie, the cost is already considered cheap.

It can be said that it is not too difficult to acquire land itself. Under the current policy environment, not everyone can squeeze into the real estate market in Beijing. It is extremely difficult for real estate companies to use residential land to build commercial properties in Beijing. Moreover, the cost of obtaining land is extremely high, and there are various policies and red lines to restrict it. You cannot get it without the magical power of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea.

In the end, the seal suddenly loosened and disappeared, and the Great Sage returned. Chaos threw a stone, which was also molten by the fire of karma. Lava armor, flame cloak, and the Great Sage made the world with one stick.

Therefore, we must follow this logic when choosing animated movies that are responsible for "breaking the ice" in the market.

In less than a year, Mo established a computer animation department and set up four project groups. In addition to one special effects group, there are three animation project groups. According to the boss's tone, Mo will also launch more and larger projects. Maybe he can become the project leader in one or two years. In addition, DreamWorks has brilliant "records" so far, although Li Chun doesn't understand what kind of animation can be welcomed by the market, he knows that following DreamWorks and Chen Jingxing, a legendary director who is much younger than him, is correct.

Chen Jingxing skipped this topic and began to really talk about Mo's next project planning.

What's more, Mo also has the business of the special effects department. He is a 3D renderer and believes that his level is not bad. He was assigned to the special effects department when he first joined the company. Later, he was intercepted by Xiang Xuan, the director of the computer animation department, and was fooled by Yitong to the animation department. In his opinion, with Mo's current scale and treatment of his own son, if he can't survive in this industry, other animation companies and special effects companies will go bankrupt.

The audience may also want to fight more here, and the viewing experience is indeed a bit insufficient, but in terms of setting, when the Great Sage returns, what monsters can be his enemy? So it is not that the fight is more complicated, but how to satisfy the audience. The audience is eager for a sufficient climax, and what may be needed is some environmental set-up. For example, the scene of the Tengu Food Day was set before, but this point was not taken into consideration in the original fight.

The Chinese animation industry is sluggish, which naturally includes animation movies. Especially after the huge box office of the "Star God" movie, which cost a lot four years ago, capital has basically no interest in animation movies. It is not that no one has made domestic animation movies, but most of these movies are low-cost and cheap 3D animated movies made by CCTV's well-known animations. Occasionally, 2D animated movies are also cheap.

It can be said that commercial banks have 10,000 support for the credit financing needs of celebrity enterprises to build headquarters buildings, let alone build office buildings in Beijing. Xu Wenshen has been busy with this matter recently because DreamWorks has abundant cash flow - compared with their film and television peers, the debt is not high. The low-interest loan from China Development Bank used to invest in Station C is not a burden for DreamWorks. Many media believe that if DreamWorks is listed now, its market value is expected to reach 10 billion yuan. Therefore, many banks are very interested in DreamWorks' plan to build headquarters buildings.

In addition, there are also many new plots added to this version of "The Return of the Great Sage". The original version is actually less than 80 minutes long and there are not many big scenes. This is also caused by the tight production funds. Even if it is not much time, it sometimes requires time to make up.

"That's true." Although Chen Chaozhuo does not have as much faith in DreamWorks and Chen Jingxing as Li Chun, he knows the box office of "Source Code" and has also read the articles analyzed in the media about how much money DreamWorks has made in the past two years. DreamWorks is definitely the most money-deficient company in the film and television industry. With such a big cow, what if you lose money in animation?

When Xu Sheng saw Chen Jingxing looking at Wu Han, he couldn't help but ask: "Boss, do you want to start the second theatrical version of "Star God"?"

Second, the recent market environment has changed, and the stock market crash has had a strong impact on the film and television industry. Even though film and television stocks have been considered less damaged due to the hot box office market, it still caused problems in the capital chain of many film and television companies, which led to a sudden increase in box office pigs on the one hand, and on the other hand, many large film projects have been postponed or even cancelled.

"In addition to "The Return of the Great Sage", I have another project here." Chen Jingxing swept over the crowd with wide eyes and looked astonished, and finally his eyes fell on Wu Han: "A science fiction animated movie."

Chen Jingxing understood the concerns of Xu Sheng, Xiang Xuan and others. First, the special effects projects Mo had undertaken before were all movies invested by DreamWorks. Even though he started to produce animation later, the cost of the three animation series did not exceed 70 million, and it was still divided into three baskets.

"It's not "The Legend of the Star God", it's an original script." Chen Jingxing interrupted Wu Han's delusion without hesitation. He wanted to revitalize Chinese animation, but he was not a fool. "The Legend of the Star God" is a passionate comic for teenagers, not a child. He has never been on CCTV, and children have basically never watched it. At present, most adults have never seen it. No matter how high the reputation is, it is only the second-dimensional market. Even if they shout out loud, they will not bring much profit. If the production cost is reduced, they may not buy it.

However, the municipal government is definitely willing to use commercial land, especially for self-built headquarters for celebrity companies. If it is a high-tech enterprise, it is not uncommon to sell and get half a gift. Of course, it must be a company with high popularity and the official is optimistic about its future development.

Xu Sheng had told Chen Jingxing before that the office space was a bit crowded, mainly because the team continued to expand continuously, the number of employees expanded rapidly, and the increase in various equipment. This has not added a rendering farm composed of more than 700 computers. The rendering array of ink is placed in a warehouse in the suburbs of Beijing. If it is placed in an office building, it cannot be placed on one floor, let alone the cooling equipment is difficult to install, and the office building property will not agree.

"The script of "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" has been finalized. The production cost we estimated is 130 million yuan. If the promotion and distribution costs are added, we can basically confirm that the total cost of this project will not be less than 160 million yuan." Xiang Xuan, director of the computer animation department, said with some disconfidence.

And instead of spending money on building a building, it is better to invest it in the project production.

The movie "The Return of the Great Sage" invested 130 million yuan, and this is not a DreamWorks project, but Mo's own project. Even if the box office failed in the end, DreamWorks will have the bottom line. However, Xu Sheng and Xiang Xuan, who will become the general manager of the "The Return of the Great Sage", also felt under great pressure.

However, Chen Jingxing didn't want to get much land. Dreamworks is not Penguin Group Ali Group, nor did he plan to build a headquarters. Under this premise, the bank absolutely has no reason to be unhappy. If Chen Jingxing is not decent, it would be impossible to get the land to mortgage it to the bank after taking the land. Acquisition of land itself is a very high threshold. Not all a cat and a dog can get the land for building the headquarters building in Beijing.

However, this is all the way to the water. Listing is a long process. Even though some film and television companies established by domestic well-known artists have successfully listed on the Hong Kong stock market in the past year, DreamWorks' size is different from these "bubble companies". It is not just a swaggering amount of money, so you must be cautious.

However, unlike the big boss who is rich and generous in Chen Chaozhuo's mind, Chen Jingxing talked about money in the conference room.

As soon as the words were finished, everyone present was silent, and some even gasped.

He has been busy with the production of "Star God". Wu Han cherishes this "child" created by him. He works hard and forgets to eat and sleep. He doesn't pay much attention to the projects Mo is preparing. Even though he knows that Mo is preparing to make animated movies, whether it is 130 million or 160 million, it is somewhat beyond his expectations. This cost of animated movie is unique in the current domestic animation industry.

"It's not just animated movies, but it must be a big production, maybe a science fiction movie!" Li Chun said in a sure tone as a veteran of the company.

For example, Sun Wukong, Bajie and Bailong were together. For some reason, the MV scene suddenly started. Some masters were also trekking around to find Jiang Liuer. There was no necessary thing for the three people to promote. Zhu Bajie appeared but there was only one more person in the team and some jokes were added. The best person who appeared here should bring the next round of tasks and open a new branch line.

Chen Jingxing smiled and shook his head: "It's not an office building built for Mo alone. I have said before that DreamWorks and Mo will work together in the future. In the future, the number of employees of DreamWorks and Mo may exceed 1,000. It's more convenient to have their own office building. This is not only to create a better working environment for employees, but also to exaggerate the farm is too far from the company, and it's also inconvenient to work. As for money, DreamWorks will solve it, so you don't have to worry about it."

As for the source of funds, listing is the best method of financing. However, Chen Jingxing has not made up his mind about where to go public. He doesn't look down on the GEM, but it's just a small pond. A-shares experienced a limit down thousands of stocks shortly after the release of "Source Code". Chen Jingxing tends to believe that this round of stock market crash will have a long bear market after this round of stock market crash. Moreover, the long queue for A-share IPOs and high requirements are not Chen Jingxing's first choice.

Low-cost low-quality non-sub-sub-profit animation movies, the second dimension will not buy it. Animated movies with high costs and high investments will buy it, but they cannot afford the box office that can cover the cost.

Unexpectedly, Chen Jingxing proposed a solution not to rent an extra floor or look for other spacious office buildings, but to build a building directly!

Although Li Chun is a veteran employee of Mo, Mo was hesitant when he was invested by DreamWorks and gradually moved the company from Chengdu to Beijing. He is also nearly thirty years old and has a family and children. It is not as simple as changing a city. But now he is very glad that he chose to stay in the company. Although the housing prices in Beijing are much higher than those in Chengdu, the development prospects are much greater. Not only are the salary and benefits, but the bonus after completing a project is also very high.

The version that Mo wants to make cannot take so long, and it is all completed by Mo's team. Although the manpower is sufficient, coupled with the first-class salary and benefits in the industry, the labor cost is also considerable.

Of course, it is incomparable to the big money of American animated films, but even compared with Japanese animated films, it is definitely a top-notch production. The production cost of most Japanese animes is between 8 million and 20 million US dollars.

After all, DreamWorks is not taking out loans this time to make movies. Commercial banks naturally avoid crazy projects like "Gravity", but this time they are going to build a headquarters building. With DreamWorks and his current status, they are already famous in the publicity. They have just been selected as the "Top 30 National Cultural Enterprises" and have also won the honorary title of "National Copyright Demonstration Unit". Not to mention the true nature, they are also star companies that have contributed a lot of political achievements.

Against this background, Mo suddenly launched a project for a non-subsidized animated film with an investment of 130 million yuan, which seemed a bit out of place. 130 million yuan is not an exaggeration in live-action movies, but it is quite terrifying in the animation field. The market ceiling of animation is too low.

But he just complained a little. Mo's office space is not loose, it is more crowded than in Chengdu. However, compared with his peers in Beijing, it is really nothing. It can be considered spacious in game companies, animation companies and even special effects companies. Three hundred people are distributed among three floors and is not crowded.

As for the US stock market, DreamWorks is not an Internet company, which is a congenital deficit. Even if you consider that several DreamWorks movies perform well in the global market, it is difficult to obtain a high valuation in the US stock market.

"The domestic film market is not highly accepted by animation... let alone science fiction animated movies..." Although Chen Chaozhuo was very excited about making animated movies, he came to his senses that animation movies are still for children to watch in the eyes of Chinese audiences today - the current domestic animated movies are indeed the case. Although this is also a big market, after all, it is one, two or even one, and three, Mo does not have a well-known animation IP. There are no animation works on TV. If you make an original animated movie, your child has never heard of it, and adults are naturally not interested in watching it. Is there really a market?

"It won't be a film version of "Star God" again?" Chen Chaozhuo thought about it. Mo was the only one with this well-known teenager animation work, but the market for hot-blooded comics for teenagers is really not big. This is not only the movie version of "Star God God" four years ago, but the hot-blooded movie versions and super-English animated movies in Japan and the United States are also lessons learned from the past. In short, most adult moviegoers are not interested when they see the animation themes released in cinemas. The second dimension alone really cannot support the box office.

Of course, it is not the only domestic animation production that is sluggish. The introduction of animation movies by the United States and Japan has not found much market. Even the theatrical versions of popular two-dimensional animations often have less than 100 million yuan in domestic box offices.

Therefore, if animated movies want to make money, they must attract adult audiences other than children.

DreamWorks has a good status and popularity. Every movie can be sold well, and even earn money from overseas markets. In addition, its subsidiary Mo is not only a first-class special effects company in China and an animation company that has caused huge waves in the animation industry. There is no problem with the title of high-tech companies. It can be said that cultural buffs and high-tech buffs are all full.

The office environment of many Hollywood film and television production companies is very superior. For example, the office location of Lucasfilm and its Industrial Light and Magic is Skywalker Manor. The reason is that this kind of creative work requires a comfortable and relaxed creative atmosphere, and the working environment is an important part.

So in this version, there is a story about Bajie becoming the little leader of the mountain demon, as well as some fighting plots.

Of course, Xu Sheng had dreamed of owning his own office building, but the cost of building his own office building in Beijing was overwhelming. Even though DreamWorks claims to be the "most money-free film and television company", it is difficult to bear such a cost solely - if other financing channels are not used.

On the contrary, Chen Jingxing believes that the secondary market is more ideal, unlike A-shares, the market is relatively stable, with a large plate, and it is easy for funds to understand the value of DreamWorks.

Equity financing was first passed by Chen Jingxing, so only credit financing is left. He is now full of confidence in the loan.

"What is the identity of the big boss? What is DreamWorks company?" Li Chun shook his chair leisurely and gave a reminder.

Of course he is optimistic about the IP of "Star God", but he is watching it for a long time. The market for domestic non-school animation dramas will definitely become larger and larger. Now we must work hard first and use the excellent quality of animation dramas to spread word-of-mouth and cultivate audiences. It is not time to harvest box office.

"This is the script." Chen Jingxing ignored Wu Han's disappointment and took out the bound thin dozen pages of paper and gave it to Xu Sheng first.

Xu Sheng took over the script that was obviously not yet finalized, looked at the first page, and read the name of the animation project:

"Your Name?"

(End of this chapter)