Life in the Light and Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

"Mr. Wu, if you weren't making movies, you'd definitely be a master negotiator!"

At Warner's Los Angeles branch, James instructed his secretary to print contracts while praising Wu Yang.

"You flatter me. I believe this collaboration will be another landmark achievement for Warner Bros., and I'm confident your name will be celebrated at the board meeting! A promotion and raise are just around the corner!"

Since everyone has carried the sedan chair, and the goal has been achieved, it's perfectly reasonable to say some nice things!

A short while later, the secretary, who had a great figure, swayed in with the contract.

The perfume mixed with the musky smell of his skin wafted over, making Wu Yang instinctively feel uncomfortable.

He quickly held his breath and only breathed a sigh of relief after the secretary left.

Faced with the surprised looks from James and his lawyer, Wu Yang didn't explain, but instead looked down at the contents of the contract.

There were two contracts on the table. Wu Yang picked up the script purchase agreement first. It clearly stated that Warner Bros. would invest $2000 million to purchase the rights to "Interstellar" for 5 years. After the expiration, the script rights would be automatically reclaimed by Wu Yang personally.

There is a note below stating that the copyright fee must be received within one day.

This was added by Wu Yang on purpose, since Chen Jinfei was still waiting for the money to get through the crisis!

After checking and confirming that everything was correct, he did not sign it immediately, but instead looked at the second betting agreement.

The terms of the betting agreement were that if Interstellar grossed over $6 million worldwide after its release, Wu Yang, the second party, would receive a bonus of $5000 million, which would be credited to his account within one month after the film's theatrical run ended.

Because of Rowling's experience, Wu Yang firmly disagreed with the total revenue sharing, fearing that Warner Bros. would take advantage of him.

This betting agreement is also a form of self-encouragement for Warner. If they don't reach the target, they don't have to pay out; if they do, even if they have to pay out a $5000 million bonus, Warner will still make a huge profit!

If a film grosses over $6 million worldwide, then the film's copyrights, audio products, and merchandise will account for roughly half of the total box office revenue, and will also generate a steady stream of income.

It's entirely possible, as Wu Yang said, that the gross profit could reach the level of 10 billion dollars.

This will also boost Warner's stock price, allowing them to cash out at a high price and generate another form of income.

Wait for the stock price to fall before buying at the bottom – a sure-fire way to make a profit!

Neither contract contained any traps; at least Wu Yang didn't see any problems. Moreover, Wu Yang brought the studio's cooperating lawyer with him this time.

Therefore, after Wu Yang and his lawyer conducted a double check and found no problems, Wu Yang finally signed and sealed the document.

To show their sincerity, Warner wired money to Wu Yang that afternoon.

As soon as the $2000 arrived, Wu Yang arranged for the accountant to pay the taxes. The tax rate for the script copyright transfer was still 37% because the amount was too large.

They paid $740 million in taxes alone, and received $1260 million, with the help of an accounting firm.

$1250 million was successfully transferred to Wu Yang's domestic account through a domestic investor. The accounting firm only played a connecting role, and they earned $10 in less than ten minutes.

At the current exchange rate, 1250 million dollars can be exchanged for more than 8000 million yuan.

Including Wu Yang's personal assets of over 3.3 million yuan, the total comes to over 4.1 million yuan.

After the money arrived, Wu Yang made an international call to Li Chunxia, ​​entrusting her with full responsibility for the purchase.

You can buy a house with cash without a bank loan, as long as the property rights are clear and there is a formal purchase contract.

The transfer of ownership could be completed on the same day after paying the taxes, and Chen Jinfei happened to be in Beijing.

So they agreed to meet at the property transfer hall, signed the purchase agreement, and then went to the counter to complete the transfer process.

This estate is a villa, and the purchase agreement states that all taxes and fees will be borne by Wu Yang.

Because this was not his first home purchase, and considering the large size and various other expenses, Wu Yang's expenses included 4 million yuan for the house.

They also paid an additional 1658 million yuan in various fees, leaving only a few thousand yuan in their account.

He was transported back to the time he was in, when he was penniless!

Fortunately, the domestic studio still had nearly 10 million yuan in its account, which did not delay Pei Le and others from filming "Lost in Thailand" or covering their daily expenses.

Moreover, "Love Like a Bouquet" was extended for 10 days and was taken off the screens 5 days ago, on March 24.

In 40 days, the domestic box office reached an astonishing 5.1 million yuan, breaking the domestic box office record of 5 million yuan.

It currently ranks second in the domestic box office for the year, crushing the films released at the same time, including "Little Big Soldier", "14 Blades" and "Hot Summer Days". None of the three films met expectations at the box office, let alone broke 100 million yuan!

Even though this record-breaking domestic film was still a joint production of China Film Group and Huayi Brothers.

However, after Feng Kuzi revealed while drunk that Wu Yang and Liu Yifei were no longer shareholders of Huayi,...

The stock price did not rise accordingly; instead, it fell slightly, barely staying around the 100 yuan mark.

Various media outlets used their extensive networks to obtain inside information from various channels.

A news report has surfaced that Feng Kuzi, out of jealousy of Wu Yang's talent and anger at being refused a cameo role in a movie by Liu Yifei, joined forces with the two Wangs to acquire Wu Yang and Liu Yifei's shares and kick them out of Huayi Brothers.

The nationwide boycott triggered by this incident reflects the Chinese people's inherent sympathy for the weak.

The key problem doesn't lie with Wu Yang and Liu Yifei; the root cause of everything is Feng Kuzi.

Feng Xiaogang had previously criticized entertainment reporters and audiences, so his reputation among the media and the public was already poor.

As a result of the public outcry, Huayi's stock price plummeted below 100 yuan and could only stay around 95 yuan.

Feng Kuzi also became a rat that everyone wanted to beat.

Both CEO Wang and CEO Wang were criticized as cold-blooded businessmen, and even Xunhu, which acquired Wu Yang and Liu Yifei's shares, was condemned as a villain who aided and abetted evil.

Major financial media outlets have predicted that without Wu Yang's films to boost the market, Huayi's current market value is severely overvalued.

For an internationally renowned director like Wu Yang, who can sell the distribution rights of romance films all over the world.

Feng Xiaogang's films are only popular in the northern film market; they are completely ignored in the southern film market.

Let alone going global, he can't even compete nationwide. If Huayi relies solely on him, its market value would be at most half of what it is now.

There are many news stories like this, which fill the eyes of all stock market investors. Of course, there are also some peers who are taking advantage of the situation!

This prompted many hesitant investors to sell their shares.

Huayi suddenly turned green, and the continuous downward trend showed no signs of ending.

Even with the intervention of both CEO Wang and CEO Wang to replenish their positions and rescue the market, they were unable to stop the continuously falling stock price.

In just one week, today's closing price has fallen to 78 yuan, a drop of more than 25% from 105 yuan.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Wang have had blisters all over their mouths these past few days, and Mr. Zhang from Xunhu is filled with regret.

The 4 million shares bought at a 10% premium saw their value evaporate by 25% in the blink of an eye, resulting in a net loss of over 100 million yuan in just 5 days.

Before the news broke, the market value of the 9500 million shares issued by Huayi was already close to breaking the 100 billion yuan mark.

After the news broke, the company's market value evaporated by more than 25 billion in just one week.

At this moment, not only the two CEOs, but even the notorious Feng Kuzi regretted it!