Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 155 Only the East Wind Is Lacking

Wanda Group, Chairman's Office.

Wang Jianlin looked up at his son sitting opposite him. "So you came all this way just to brag to me about making a million?"

"What do you mean by 'bragging'?" Wang Sicong crossed his legs, looking unconvinced. "This is a record. You need to understand the current market situation. Every other movie is losing money, except for the one I invested in, which made a profit!"

He pushed the revenue report for "Lost in Thailand" back a bit, "It's only been a little over half a month—"

Wang Jianlin ignored his provocation and picked up the report to look through it.

The report was very professional, including detailed box office data, occupancy rate curves, and online copyright revenue, as well as a comparison of the box office trends of films released during the same period.

Amidst rows of alarming negative returns and precipitous declines, the red curve of "Lost in Thailand," rising against the trend, stands out starkly.

"This guy named Ren Pingsheng is indeed quite something," Wang Jianlin said slowly.

Actually, even without Wang Sicong saying it, Ye Ning had already reported it to him.

While cinemas across the country were worried about the World Cup, Wanda became the leading cinema chain in June through its deep collaboration with "Lost in Thailand".

"That's right," Wang Sicong said, immediately seizing the opportunity when he saw his father, "How could the partners I chose be without substance?"

"What is it?" Wang Jianlin put down the report. He knew his son too well; he wouldn't come to the temple without a reason.

"Hehe," Wang Sicong put away his nonchalant attitude and took out another document from behind his back and placed it on the table.

The cover features three large, flamboyant characters: "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

"What is this?"

"An opportunity for you to go from a downstream exhibitor to an upstream content producer," Wang Sicong mimicked Ren Pingsheng's tone, repeating the logic of that industry chain.

"Wanda has the best cinema chain in the country, but it only shows other companies' movies. Why can't it show some of its own content?"

"Ghost Blows Out the Light is a top-tier commercial blockbuster with a total investment of 300 million yuan. Sohu has already invested 75 million yuan, Baidu and iQiyi are also going to get involved, and China Film Group is in talks. This project is as stable as it gets."

Wang Jianlin fell silent.

Creating content and connecting the entire industry chain were the original intentions behind the establishment of Wanda Pictures.

After a year of operation and having reviewed numerous projects, he still hadn't found one that would make him commit to investing heavily in it.

Small-scale projects are not worthy of Wanda's scale, while projects with too much risk are not suitable as pioneering ventures.

The novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" seems to have perfectly solved these two problems.

An investment of 300 million is large enough, and with the internet giants Sohu and Baidu sharing the burden, the risk is controllable. Plus, there's Ren Pingsheng, who has already proven his operational capabilities with "Lost in Thailand".

"How much does he want us to contribute?" Wang Jianlin asked the crucial question.

"A 20% share, 6000 million."

Wang Sicong paused for a moment, then added, "This is just about funding. What he values ​​more is Wanda's cinema resources. He said that if this movie succeeds, it will be Wanda's first movie to run entirely within its own system, from production to distribution to screening. This is more valuable than how much box office revenue it earns."

A long silence fell over the office.

After a long silence, Wang Jianlin finally spoke again, "Did Ren Pingsheng teach you these lines?"

Wang Sicong's heart skipped a beat, but he still stubbornly insisted, "Can't I come up with my own idea?"

Wang Jianlin chuckled and didn't press further. "Let Ye Ning discuss the specific terms with him. I'll approve the 3000 million for Wanda Pictures. You can decide for yourself."

"But there are conditions. If any part of a 300 million yuan project goes wrong, it will be a disaster. If you are going to invest, you have to keep an eye on it from beginning to end. You can't just invest the money and then wash your hands of it."

"no problem."

Ren Pingsheng hung up the phone with Wang Sicong and wrote down two numbers in his notebook.

Pusi Capital, 3000 million, 10%.

Wanda Pictures, 3000 million, 10%.

Search Arc 25%, Life View 35%, Wanda 10%, Pusi 10%.

iQiyi's 5% to 10% is pending, and China Film's 10% to 15% is pending.

On the content side, Shengping Vision is in control; on the theatrical side, Wanda Group provides a safety net; and on the online side, Sohu and iQiyi provide coverage.

Only China Film Group is missing.

He closed the notebook and went into the studio.

The post-production of "Li Xianji" has entered its final sprint stage.

Over the past week, all three production lines have been working at full capacity simultaneously.

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Li Yang's twelve-minute animated segment is complete and has been sent over in batches.

BaseFX also delivered all the special effects shots ahead of schedule, and the visual quality of the hovering raindrops and time travel scenes far exceeded expectations.

The production team is responsible for color grading, dubbing, and sound effects mixing for the live-action footage.

All the materials have now been gathered in the studio.

Ren Pingsheng, Zhang Yibo, and Kong Lianshun sat side by side, making their final cuts and compositing.

"stop."

Ren Pingsheng suddenly spoke.

On the screen, the image freezes on the moment when Li Xianji, played by Xia Yu, experiences his first episode of time lag, preparing to switch from the real world to the animated world.

"Yibo, don't you feel like something's off?"

Zhang Yibo frowned and dragged the progress bar back and forth several times: "Yes, a bit. The live-action footage has a cooler color tone, but Director Li Yang's animation has strong colors. Cutting directly to it feels like two completely unrelated films are being forcibly spliced ​​together, which is a bit disjointed."

Kong Lianshun added from the side, "The sense of disconnect is quite strong, but wouldn't it... perfectly highlight the sudden onset and uncontrollable feeling of time lag?"

This is the simplest and most direct approach, and it's the hard cut that many directors choose.

But Ren Pingsheng shook his head.

He knew very well that the core concept of "Li Xianji" was time difference syndrome, which was the cornerstone of the entire story.

When presenting this concept to the audience for the first time, it must be clear and impactful enough to allow the audience to understand and accept the concept instantly.

Abrupt cuts are too crude; the audience will only feel confused.

"We need a transition," Ren Pingsheng said, "a transition that allows the audience to visually feel that the world is crumbling."

He looked at Xia Yu's bewildered and pained face on the screen, and images quickly formed in his mind.

"Let's move forward three seconds and use the actual footage as a base, then have the BaseFX team do some further processing."

"How is it processed?"

"We increased the saturation of the image frame by frame, and at the same time, added noise and scan lines to simulate the feel of an old videotape."

"Then, at the last second, do pixel dissolution," he stretched out his hand and gestured in the air, "let Xia Yu's face start to disintegrate pixel by pixel, and finally completely blend into Director Li Yang's animated world."

"This way, the audience can intuitively feel how the real world in Li Xianji's eyes gradually becomes distorted and is eventually swallowed up by the animated world of time difference syndrome."

Zhang Yibo and Kong Lianshun were stunned.

This imaginative yet precisely tailored visual effects design completely exceeded their expectations.

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