Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 250 The Greatest Joy is Splitting Money
Wu Yuchen keenly sensed that Han Sanping was referring to the cooperation between China Film Group and China Film Group.

It's important to understand that, officially speaking, private companies aren't allowed to get involved in film distribution. Even if Miracle Films has established a publicity and distribution department, every time they do publicity and distribution, it's nominally to assist China Film Group or Beijing Film Studio in their distribution work. But now Han Sanping is talking about China Film Group cooperating…

Wu Yuchen then looked at Han Sanping, who smiled and gestured for him to look at the second document first: "Implementation Rules for the Qualification Certification System for Obtaining the Film Production License (Single Film)".

Wu Yuchen read the document carefully. The details were extensive, but the main point was that entities other than film production companies, upon obtaining a "Single Film Certificate," would have the right to independently produce films. This means that in the future, private film companies that obtain a "Single Film Certificate" will no longer need to purchase studio logos when making films.

In the past few years, although the films Wu Yuchen made were all funded by Miracle Films itself, they all had to be branded with a label, that is, they had to buy the logo of Beijing Film Studio. But in the future, this step will no longer be necessary!
Wu Yuchen's face lit up with joy, and then he immediately asked, "Brother Han, is the distribution process ready?"

Han Sanping smiled and said, "The issuance is not completely finalized yet, but we plan to open it up on a small scale and select a few companies to conduct pilot programs. If the results are good, we can finalize it in a few years."

Needless to say, Miracle Films will definitely be one of the participants in this pilot program!

Wu Yuchen immediately clasped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you very much, Brother Han!"

The official opening of film distribution to private companies will not be possible until the "Film Distribution and Operation License" is issued in two years. However, with the tacit approval of China Film Group, it is practically the same as having already obtained the license, and distribution companies can now go all out.

In my past life, Yu Dong's Bona Film Group probably followed the same path. After all, he came from the Beijing Film Studio and always considered himself a former subordinate of Han Sanping, so he naturally enjoyed this pilot privilege. Thinking of Yu Dong, I wonder when this guy will resign and go out to start his own company.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Yuchen asked a crucial question concerning his strategy: "Brother Han, in the reform of the cinema industry, can we, as private capital, contribute more now?"

Wu Yuchen's meaning was very clear: he was asking Han Sanping whether the red line of private capital acquiring cinema chains had been lifted.

Han Sanping pondered for a moment and said, "Brother Wu, I won't hide it from you. Regarding the reform of cinema chains, the opinions at the meeting still need to be taken one step at a time. For the time being, cinema chains should still be mainly state-owned. If we make too big a move, we might hurt ourselves! However, the country is now encouraging the revitalization of the private economy in all sectors. Opening up our film industry to private capital is a major trend. You just need to grasp the appropriate measure yourself."

Wu Yuchen instantly understood. Han Sanping meant that although he still insisted on state-owned enterprises as the main force, he had opened the door to private capital. As long as state-owned enterprises remained the largest shareholder in the cinema chain, no one would interfere.

That leaves a lot of room for maneuver. To be conservative, one could acquire 49% of the shares, leaving the state with a 51% controlling stake and still being the majority shareholder, and then wait for the policy to be released before taking further action.

To take a more aggressive approach, for example, a certain cinema chain could be nominally the largest shareholder with a 35% state-owned holding, but Wu Yuchen could register several smaller companies to control the remaining 65% of the shares. In the next few years, he could avoid going against the state-owned giant and, once the official documents are issued, immediately transform the chain into his own.

In my previous life, after the "Several Decisions on Non-Public Capital Entering the Cultural Industry" were issued in 2005, cinema chains were fully opened to private capital, and Wanda, the first cinema chain in mainland China entirely dominated by private capital, was born that year. I just wonder if his influence now will accelerate this process and bring it to fruition sooner.

Wu Yuchen thanked Han Sanping repeatedly. He said that knowing this information in advance would allow him to plan ahead, enter the game early, and gain the upper hand to grow bigger and stronger.

After returning with this information, Wu Yuchen immediately convened a meeting within the company to discuss and plan the next steps.

Two weeks later, Wu Yuchen boarded a plane bound for the United States.

……

At DreamWorks, Spielberg and Wu Yuchen gave each other a light hug, their faces beaming with smiles: "Wu, it's been so long! We've all missed you!"

After letting go, Wu Yuchen said, "Oh, Steven, I missed you guys too. How have you been? I was so worried about you during 9/11!"

Wu Yuchen also called to say hello, but he would definitely express his concern again when they met.

"Thank you for your concern, we're all fine, but the impact of 9/11 was enormous!" Spielberg couldn't help but sigh when he mentioned 9/11.

Wu Yuchen chimed in, "Yes, the airport looks much quieter than before, with at least half the number of people. Security is much stricter than before. They practically tried to pull down my underwear, and they only let me go after I told them I was director Wu Yuchen. It was terrifying!"

Spielberg laughed heartily: "I never knew your reputation could have this effect!"

He then added, "Leaving aside other industries, Hollywood has also been struggling in recent months. The entertainment industry is in a general downturn, and people are unwilling to go out and spend money on entertainment. At its lowest point, the number of moviegoers was 60% less than before, and the whole country seems to be shrouded in gloom."

Wu Yuchen patted Spielberg on the shoulder: "It will pass, everything will be alright."

After a month or two of stagnation, Wu Yuchen knew he should recover by Christmas at the end of the year; otherwise, it would have been impossible to produce two super-high-grossing movies like "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Lord of the Rings."

Spielberg nodded and said, "Things are much better now. However, our deployment to Afghanistan and the war on terror have already started to involve reports of troops harming civilians, which has caused some controversy. We don't know how long this war will last. Some people in Hollywood have already started to raise anti-war slogans, hoping to end the war as soon as possible and withdraw the troops."

Wu Yuchen shook his head. How could such a thing be so simple? Revenge was just an excuse. The Americans wouldn't leave until they achieved their strategic objectives and gained enough advantage. Moreover, online media was far less developed than it would be in later years. Most of the information was still revealed by war correspondents, and the vast majority of scandals could be covered up.

Wu Yuchen didn't want to talk much about this matter. It wasn't the time to express his opinion yet, and besides, he was a foreigner. He would wait until things became clearer before making any statements.

Wu Yuchen immediately smiled and changed the subject, saying, "Steven, let's talk about something happy. Has 'Pirate King' finished its run in North America?"

The film's run ending in North America means that it can now receive its share of the North American box office revenue from theaters. Money is always the happiest thing when it comes in! Spielberg then led Wu Yuchen to sit down and handed him a document: "The Pirate King was shown in North American theaters for nearly half a year, with a total North American box office of $4.05 million. If it weren't for 9/11, it might have been even higher."

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "It's okay, we should be happy that our movie was released in May!"

Before 9/11, Pirate King had already grossed $380 million at the box office, and in the following two months it only increased by $20 million, which had little impact on the total box office.

Spielberg also laughed and said, "Yes, now that I think about it, it's not just us who were lucky, Pearl Harbor was really lucky too. If they had released it at the end of the year, it wouldn't have even made over $100 million at the box office!"

The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7th, leading some media outlets to speculate that the film might be released on that date. However, "Pearl Harbor" did not choose that date. The film is about the bombing; if it had been released after 9/11, reopening the wound of the attack, how many people would have gone to see it? It would have been met with fierce criticism and condemnation.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Let's not talk about our defeated opponents anymore, let's talk about 'Pirate King' instead~"

Currently, "The Pirate King" has grossed $8.3 million worldwide. It has finished its run in North America, but it is still showing in some overseas regions, so we will not discuss the overseas box office for now.

However, in terms of North American box office, this time it grossed $4.05 million. The studio received 64% of the box office revenue, which is $2.59 million. After deducting Universal's distribution share and 12% of the North American box office revenue, $2.1 million was left.

Next, the publicity budget was initially set at 5000 million, but an additional 1500 million was added, bringing the total to 6500 million. After deducting this amount, the production company was left with only $1.456 million.

This isn't even the portion he actually received. Wu Yuchen's director's fee included a 12% share of the full copyright, so he naturally had to receive 12% of the North American box office revenue, which is 4860 million.

After deducting that, 9700 million is left. The movie originally cost 1.4 million US dollars, with DreamWorks contributing 8000 million and Miracle Pictures contributing 6000 million. Proportionally, they could each receive 5540 million and 4160 million respectively.

If we only consider North American domestic box office, even with "Pirates of the Caribbean" grossing $4.05 million, both companies still lost money on their film investments, demonstrating the difficulty of making big-budget films. Fortunately, they still have overseas box office revenue and various copyrights.

Leaving aside overseas box office revenue, the global sale price of the DVDs and VHS tapes alone reached a high of $1.5 million. Television rights, airline rights, and other rights combined sold for $4000 million.

Don't think that $1.5 million is too high and that the distributors won't make a profit. In fact, after the movie finished its theatrical run, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" DVDs and VHS tapes sold 1300 million copies in their first week, generating over $2.2 million in sales within two weeks. They made far more than you imagine…

The prices for licensing peripheral products such as toys, clothing, food, and accessories are also outrageous. Most of the licenses that have been negotiated so far are for 3 years, with the longest not exceeding 5 years, and costing 1.5 million!
This still includes some overseas parts that haven't been finalized. If things really go all out, Wu Yuchen estimates he could earn 2.5 million yuan just from merchandise licensing alone. And this isn't a one-off deal. When it comes time to renew the contract in three to five years, will you even renew? As long as *Pirate King* remains popular, the money can keep flowing, since there will be new characters and new content in the sequel!

Wu Yuchen recalled that the merchandise and television rights for "The Sixth Sense" were only sold for 3000 million yuan, even though the movie's box office was high, it clearly didn't have much merchandise value. But the merchandise value for "The Pirate King" is truly enormous!

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but sigh. No wonder in his previous life, Disney relentlessly pressured Depp to make a fourth and fifth installment, even offering him a staggering $1 million salary for the fifth one. They weren't even aiming for huge box office profits; as long as they didn't lose money, everything else could be recouped through merchandise. The merchandise from this project was incredibly lucrative!

In other words, the copyright revenue is currently 3.4 million. Of this, 12%, or 4080 million, will first go to Wu Yuchen. Then, according to their investment ratios, DreamWorks and Miracle Pictures will each receive 1.72 million and 1.28 million respectively.

In other words, even before the overseas box office revenue sharing of "The Pirate King" was included, DreamWorks and Miracle Pictures earned 2.27 million and 1.8 million respectively. After deducting their respective investments of 8000 million and 6000 million, their net profits were 1.47 million and 1.2 million.

Director Wu Yuchen's current remuneration is 9640 million yuan, which is almost as much as the profit of his own company, Miracle Pictures, the investor.

Once the overseas box office revenue sharing arrives next year, his director's fee will definitely exceed 100 million. This is a very high income, even in Hollywood!
Wu Yuchen couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth when he thought of this, but after seeing Spielberg smiling beside him, his smugness subsided a bit. After all, this guy earned 2.5 million for directing "Jurassic Park".

Wu Yuchen thought about it. On one hand, his 12% share was lower than Spielberg's, who received at least 20% of the full copyright for "Jurassic Park." On the other hand, "Jurassic Park" was definitely more popular and generated more revenue from merchandise than "Pirates of the Caribbean," since those dinosaurs were incredibly easy to sell; almost every child who saw the movie wanted to buy them.

The goal is right in front of us, but the revolution still requires effort!
Thinking of this, Wu Yuchen immediately asked Spielberg, "Steven, how are the negotiations for the cast of the Pirate King sequel going?"

Spielberg shook his head: "Keira and Hugh Jackman are fine, but Depp's agent said that they won't discuss a sequel until the global box office figures are finalized."

Wu Yuchen nodded upon hearing this, clearly indicating that Depp, as the lead actor, was the most difficult to deal with. The sequel's salary might no longer be negotiable beyond the 2000 million club.

Wu Yuchen told Spielberg, "We need to set a tone: we'd rather pay Depp a high salary than give him a share of the profits."

"Wu, it seems you're very confident about the sequel?" Spielberg said with a smile.

Most Hollywood sequels are actually not as good as the first one, and it's quite likely that a sequel will be a bad movie.

"Of course, I have already made a complete plan for the trilogy, and you have seen it. How could there be a situation where it is a poor sequel?"

"Then I'm relieved!" Spielberg laughed heartily.

……

(End of this chapter)