After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 659 Chain Reaction, the Golden Age Arrives Ahead of Schedule!

Yanbei.

Chang'an Club.

After the hustle and bustle of the drinking party subsided, Gong Yu sat down on a mahogany sofa and made himself a cup of tea.

Gong Yu's tea-brewing technique was not very skillful, and he brewed the tea very slowly.

He finally managed to brew a cup of tea, took a sip, and then put it down.

Gong Yu leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he slowly opened his eyes, adjusted his glasses, and made up his mind.

"Using movies to open up the country's doors and create opportunities for streaming media to enter the market is a brilliant move... The filter in 'Your Name' was originally intended for animated films. They were too hasty. Wait a minute, maybe China Film Group will join in too... But there are also more variables. Good fortune may be a blessing in disguise, and misfortune may be a blessing in disguise. Everything is the best arrangement."

Gong Yu took out his phone and made a call to Chairman Li.

After obtaining permission.

Gong Yu began to make his move.

Li Mingyang is no longer a threat. If Li Mingyang wants to enter the Xiao Rizi market, he cannot be burdened by domestic issues. His identity as a drug thief is precisely the entry ticket to Xiao Rizi.

If the young woman doesn't agree, that's okay.

And Hollywood too!

Hollywood is the father of Japanese entertainment.

On January 7, iQiyi announced its withdrawal from the South Korean market. The move came with great fanfare, but it failed to achieve any results.

For Gong Yu, this was undoubtedly a strategic mistake.

However, when asked by reporters, Li Yanhong stated that the Korean market was not yet mature and this was a strategic retreat.

Just when the industry was puzzled.

iQiyi and Enlight Media have signed a three-year online broadcasting rights contract. The specific details are unknown, but the contract is worth 300 million yuan.

Subsequently, iQiyi purchased the package of substandard and poorly made bouquet videos that were criticized by both industry insiders and outsiders for ten million yuan.

That was the public announcement, but privately, Gong Yu was already discussing investing in Enlight Media, firing Baibin on the grounds of corruption, and bringing in a strategic investment of 3 million US dollars from Xiaomi.

They reached an agreement to acquire PPS at a premium of $4 million.

The collaboration between iQiyi and PPS is bound to break the monopoly of Youku Tudou.

In addition, the gaming business is also a selling point of PPS, contributing 2 million to 3 million yuan in revenue annually. The acquisition of PPS accelerated iQiyi's financial profitability, which is a major highlight for iQiyi's future IPO.

Gong Yu's decisive and resolute actions shocked the Chinese entertainment industry.

This marked the beginning of a major battle in the mobile video revolution in mainland China!

And this is the final major reshuffle of the streaming industry!

iQiyi's major moves have led many to believe that Alibaba will follow suit.

Alibaba is indeed preparing to acquire Youku Tudou, but they can't agree on a price; Lao Gu's asking price is too high.

While Alibaba is still negotiating, Tencent has already made a major internal decision!

Liu Chunming, the person in charge of Tencent Video, has been fired!

Sun Zhonghuai, the founder of Tencent's Penguin Media Group, a rock 'n' roll youth, took over Penguin Video.

A large number of executives from Tencent's Penguin.com have moved to Penguin Video.

Tencent has integrated its most elite content creation department into Tencent Video.

For most people, the change of leadership at Tencent Video is simply a personnel change.

This is normal.

Only a few people knew that Tencent was serious about this, and what Gong Yu least wanted to see was Liu Chunming being replaced.

Liu Chunming is ambitious and eager for quick success; he is a disciple of Jia Yueting and a master of PowerPoint presentations.

Aside from buying copyrights at exorbitant premiums, he accomplished nothing at the helm of Tencent Video.

Gong Yu was overjoyed.

Liu Chunming was bragging in front, while Gong Yu was quietly developing in the back – it was perfect.

However, Li Mingyang's words enlightened him: being one step ahead now will make him ten steps ahead in the future.

Instead of worrying about penguins, we should focus on doing our own thing.

iQiyi is making a series of big moves, and Tencent Video has changed its leadership.

Youku was completely baffled. Lao Gu didn't want Liu Chunming to be replaced either; such a 'good' opponent is hard to come by!

With both companies making moves, Youku couldn't sit idly by either and started making its own big moves.

The first step is to cut our own costs and increase efficiency, including layoffs...

The second step was to acquire companies and expand the company's scale.

The third one is bragging, saying he'll create an online Disney!

And then... nothing.

Youku only made these three cuts.

However, because it went public early, these three techniques were incredibly effective, and the stock price went up again!

iQiyi acquired PPS, Tencent Video changed its leadership, and Youku Tudou made three moves.

The streaming landscape has officially entered its next decade!
The Chinese entertainment industry has officially entered a golden age of development!
The golden age of traffic!
In this situation, Li Mingyang was speechless; he had simply tricked Gong Yu into firing Bai Bin.

Get yourself a capable secretary.

I don't know what said it that provoked him.

This allowed him to acquire PPS ahead of schedule, which led to a change in leadership at Tencent Video.

As one of the kings of the opposite sex, Sun Zhonghuai's abilities are truly remarkable. The fact that he can stabilize such a behemoth as Tencent Video is already quite impressive.

The reason why Tencent Video is being suppressed by iQiyi is due to a variety of reasons. The main reason is that Sun Hongbin (the founder of Tencent Video) did not dare to be too aggressive. He focused on copying others' achievements and using their successful experiences to defeat the other party.

Penguins used this tactic to crush countless competitors.

Unfortunately, they encountered Gong Yu in the streaming media field.

Gong Yu is known for his innovative and bold approach, with a wide variety of ideas and few failures, which has led to Penguin being constantly suppressed.

This infuriated Little Ma, who wanted to change the coach.

Content innovation is the core competitiveness of streaming media!

The entertainment industry in China is in turmoil. Two major investors are making moves: one is expanding externally to fill gaps in its weaknesses, while the other is changing its leadership internally and rushing into the market!

Just when everyone's attention was focused on the two companies.

On January 11, Dongda Media Group announced that it had received a strategic investment of HK$52.44 billion from Alibaba Group. Alibaba will acquire 51% of Dongda Media Group's shares, and the two parties will explore future business opportunities in the online entertainment and media-related fields.

Cultural East University was the predecessor of Alibaba Pictures.

The boss of Dongda Culture University is Dong Ping.

The most skilled capital operator in the Chinese entertainment industry, and the number one shell company king of cultural stocks.

He was also one of the earliest big names to delve into the mainland Chinese film industry.

In 96, Zhang Yimou encountered financial difficulties while filming "Keep Cool".

My good friend Zhang Weiping invested 2800 million yuan. This was also their first collaboration.

Then, by sheer coincidence, it was time for the release.

The two brothers met Dong Ping on their first collaboration.

Zhang Weiping sold the film's domestic and international distribution rights to Dong Ping for a total of US$270 million.

That year, "Keep Cool" grossed over 3000 million yuan domestically, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, but Dong Ping never paid the bill.

$270 million was a lot of money back then.

Despite Zhang Weiping's later arrogance, back then he not only didn't dare to ask for the money back then, but also advised his good brother Zhang Yimou to let it go... Dong Ping and the others couldn't afford to mess with him.

Why can't we afford to offend them?

Dong Ping is behind every film distributed by China Film Group, just like Yu Dong.

However, Yu Dong is better at issuing shares, while Dong Ping is better at capital operations.

In 2003, Dong Ping's company, Beida Huayi, partnered with Hainan Radio and Television Station to create Travel Channel, with Beida Huayi acquiring a 49% stake in Travel Channel.

In the same year, Poly Group partnered with Peking University Huayi to establish Poly Huayi, which became the "largest cultural industry merger and acquisition case" at the time.

In 2005, Dong Ping listed Poly Huayi in Hong Kong through a reverse takeover. In 2007, the company was sold to Dongda Broadband Industry Fund at a high price.

After cashing out at a high price, in 2009, Dong Ping injected his film and television business into another Hong Kong-listed company, Shanglian Cement, which was later renamed Cultural Dongda.

The Cultural East University is very complex, involving three major Hong Kong directors: Stephen Chow, Wong Kar-wai, and Chen Kexin.

Suspected insider trading involving billions of dollars...

In addition, it closely links mainland Chinese films with Hong Kong stocks.

This is what Li Mingyang knew through his third eye.

However, this life is a little different.

There was no insider trading; Dongda Culture was acquired suddenly!

Unlike its predecessor, Dongda Culture, whose stock price doubled in the ten-plus trading days before its trading suspension, Dongda Culture's stock price was inexplicably driven up by "insightful" funds.

Alibaba Pictures is coming.

However, this had little to do with Li Mingyang, so he didn't take it to heart and focused all his attention on the production of the animated film "Your Name".

However, what happened next completely exceeded Li Mingyang's expectations.

The day after Alibaba acquired Dongda Culture, which was Saturday, January 12th.

Goodbye My Soulmate is now showing in theaters!
With the support of ticket subsidy software such as Maoyan and Nuomi, film scheduling and release dates were quickly finalized!
On its opening day, it grossed 1279 million yuan at the box office.

Given the lack of promotion and rampant piracy, and the fact that it's an imported Korean film, this achievement is already quite remarkable.

Despite his notorious reputation, Li Mingyang still enjoys tremendous box office appeal in mainland China.

The following day, Goodbye My Soulmate raked in another 13.8 million yuan at the box office, becoming the second film, after Late Autumn, to surpass 20 million yuan at the Chinese box office.

This is quite an impressive achievement, and it is very likely to break the 6500 million box office record of "Late Autumn" and the record for the highest-grossing Korean film in mainland China!
Enlight Media, the importer, and CJ Pictures, the producer, were caught off guard by China Film Group's actions. However, with the release of "Goodbye My Love," both parties quickly responded and formulated a publicity plan.

On January 13, Girls' Generation's Yoona, along with Seohyun, Kim Go-eun, Kim Ji-won, and Lee Kwang-soo (four girls and one boy), arrived in Shanghai.

He appeared at the Bouquet Hotel at noon that day to attend the press conference for "Goodbye My Soulmate".

Because Li Mingyang is not involved in the domestic promotion of Goodbye.

Girls' Generation members Yoona and Seohyun became the focus of media attention, and Kim Ji-won, who is even more idol-like than idols, was also a target of media attention.

Kim Go-eun, who was highly praised in South Korea, suddenly fell from grace and was ignored, standing on either side of Lee Kwang-soo.

On Monday, the third day of its release, thanks to Girls' Generation's immense popularity in China, the film continued its momentum, grossing over ten million yuan at the box office.

The main creators were overjoyed, and the executives from Enlight Media and CJ were all smiles.

Goodbye, this movie had a very low budget.

Enlight Media purchased the rights through a co-production quota and distributed the film under its own name, so it is able to receive a 25% share.

According to the agreement, the higher the box office, the higher CJ's share of the profits, which is much better than being bought as a batch of films.

Just when both Enlight Media and CJ felt they had made a killing.

On January 14, around 1 a.m., a large number of posts suddenly appeared on Weibo saying "Goodbye to stolen box office revenue".

It quickly went viral and was deleted in less than three minutes.

"Box office revenue stolen? No way?" Wang Changtian was having dinner with Li Meijin, who was out for a walk, when he heard his subordinate say that the box office revenue had been stolen. He was full of questions!

Is there anyone in the Chinese entertainment industry who dares to steal his box office revenue?
Who has the guts to do this?

Wang Changtian left the private room and walked down the corridor, looking at his subordinate's phone, which contained numerous screenshots of Weibo posts, though it didn't explicitly state who stole the box office revenue from "Goodbye".

But he could still clearly see the words "Lost in Thailand" written all over the ticket stub.

Lost in Thailand stole the box office of Goodbye.

Wang Changtian returned to the private room, greeted Li Meijin, and then hurriedly took the elevator back to his room to thoroughly investigate the matter.

As more and more information comes in.

Wang Changtian was shocked to discover that Zuo Shandiao was a terrible character; his sudden appearance in the film "Goodbye My Love" was merely a blood donation for "Lost in Thailand."

Since ghost fields are being strictly investigated and cannot be used, the only option left is to steal them.

The key issue is that there's only one movie on the market that could be stolen from "Lost in Thailand"—"Chinese Zodiac"—but this one is aiming for a billion-dollar box office, and stealing it would negatively impact his political achievements.

007 and Pleasant Goat are two great sources of healing, but they're too far apart.

Then Zuo Shandiao released "Goodbye, My Soulmate".

Goodbye has already been approved and can be released at any time.

The only question is whether the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is willing.

Zuo Shandiao shared his ideas with the top leader, who immediately disagreed, leaving no room for negotiation.

Therefore, Zuo Shandiao could only set his sights on Hollywood blockbusters like 007, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which aired on February 10th during the Spring Festival.

Unless absolutely necessary, Zuo Shandiao doesn't want to change the release date of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons; he wants to test the power of the Spring Festival release window.

The bandit leader, driven by wickedness, set his sights on 007. Although he had just been accused of box office fraud by a joint Hollywood petition last year, Hollywood figured it was better to steal from them than not.

Just as he was preparing to move up the release date of 007 in order to steal box office revenue.

The top leader called him over and asked him to make arrangements to release "Goodbye".

Zuo Shandiao wasn't sure how effective the blood pack would be, so when his superior made him sign a 2 billion yuan pledge for the Lost in Thailand, he just grinned and brushed it off.

When the movie "The Return of the Condor Heroes" was released, Zuo Shandiao realized that he had underestimated Li Mingyang.

As a youth comedy, "Goodbye" hits the mark in the lower-tier market.

It grossed over 20 million yuan on the first day and then over 40 million yuan on the second day with an astonishing attendance rate.

It surpassed the 6500 million yuan box office of "Late Autumn" in just two days over the weekend, setting a new box office record for Korean films in China, and in just two days...

"Third Master, it's a weekday, and the box office for Goodbye is still quite good. Today it should be over 20 million, especially in third-tier cities."

Zuo Shandiao listened to his secretary's report and happily took a puff of his cigarette.

"Should we call Li Mingyang back? If he comes back to promote the film, the box office will be even better."

cough cough...

Zuo Shandiao was choked by the smoke and coughed incessantly.

The secretary came up with this terrible idea; he still has a sense of shame.

"The publicity for 'Goodbye' doesn't seem to be working well. Tell Wang Changtian to do some more eye-catching promotions, and to lower the ticket subsidy to a maximum of 5.9 yuan."

The secretary nodded and made a phone call to Wang Changtian in front of Zuo Shandiao. Then, the secretary suddenly covered the phone, turned to Zuo Shandiao, and said, "Wang Changtian, who will pay for this?"

"Of course he'll foot the bill. With Enlight Media's stock soaring like this, if he doesn't bleed a little, it will affect unity."

"..."

……

When Li Mingyang learned that his reunion was being used as a blood transfusion by China Film Group to help Lost in Thailand reach 2 billion yuan in box office revenue.

His reaction was the same as Wang Changtian's.

I'm both happy and speechless; it's quite a dilemma.

With Enlight Media's market capitalization exceeding 30 billion, the box office of "Goodbye" would only have a slight impact on Enlight Media's stock price if it exceeded 1 billion.

The main reason is that Li Mingyang already has two movies that have grossed over 1 billion yuan.

The Thai film "Lost in Thailand," which was touted by the industry to be worth 2 billion yuan, is different.

For every small step forward in the box office of Lost in Thailand, Enlight Media's stock price climbs a little higher.

If we extrapolate the box office success of "Lost in Thailand" to the stock market, the returns would multiply exponentially!

It far exceeded the revenue generated by the box office of "Goodbye".

From a commercial perspective, Wang Changtian and Li Mingyang made a killing from this deal.

But emotionally, the feeling of being treated like a blood bag is not pleasant.

"How much money can we make if we sell our stocks now?" Li Mingyang was particularly concerned about this question.

"Based on the current market value, it's around 1.5 billion."

"Huh, so many?"

“I gradually invested the equity profits from the Three-Body Problem Film City into it, and on average, it has at least doubled.”

Wow, you actually dared to gamble!
"Let's back out and sell all our stocks."

"Should we sell it now? I did the math. Given the reverse growth rate of Lost in Thailand's box office, and with another wave of 007 and Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf films, Lost in Thailand has a high probability of breaking 2 billion."

"To be honest, I was surprised that 'Goodbye' was used as a blood bank, but I was even more surprised that it was released."

Li Mingyang was too lazy to prove how many bowls of noodles he ate, and he never publicly expressed his personal stance.

The main reason why "Goodbye" cannot be released is due to political stance.

In addition, there were domestic business rivals stirring up trouble, the joint exclusion of him by the Beijing and Hong Kong entertainment circles, the impact of the Korean wave on the domestic entertainment industry, and so on...

Releasing "Goodbye" will be very difficult; the situation is complicated and not something that China Film Group can decide alone.

It was suddenly released at the last minute; there's something complicated about this!
Li Mingyang knew how close the relationship was between Dong Ping, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, and Huang Bo.

How they later connected and created Huanxi Media.

Alibaba acquired Dongda Culture, and then suddenly started draining resources from Lost in Thailand, aiming for a 2 billion yuan profit.

This is exactly as planned.

Jack Ma likes to brag, but he doesn't really understand the intricacies of movies.

This must be Dong Ping's doing.

Insider trading is the best opportunity to make a fortune. Since they haven't taken action, they must be eyeing an even bigger pie!
Alibaba Pictures!

Yanzi became a stock market guru by buying shares in Alibaba Pictures...

With Alibaba's size, it can easily play the finance + film market and rake in profits.

Wang Changtian didn't want to sell and wanted to wait a little longer.

Li Mingyang said speechlessly, "You only found out about the stolen box office revenue three days later? You're so out of touch. If you hadn't run now, you would have missed your chance."

"The extremely high turnover rate of Enlight Media is a market reaction, and there are no major players involved."

"Without a big bookmaker, meaning no one will pull the price up, wouldn't it jump even faster...?"

"I'm confident that 'Lost in Thailand' will be a success. It's less than 200 million away from 2 billion. And there's 007 and Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf coming up. It'll definitely be a success."

"In that case, could you sell my share...?"

"I know you're upset, but don't turn down money. They need political achievements, and the market needs benchmarks. They even managed to capitalize on the 'Lost in Thailand' phenomenon; Enlight Media will definitely break 40 billion!"

Wang Changtian couldn't listen to anything else; his mind was filled with fantasies about that 40 billion market value.

Stock trading side effects...

But Li Mingyang was very clear-headed; if Dong Ping was behind this scheme...

So all of this is to promote Xu Zheng and create a director with a 2 billion yuan profit!

The stock price of Enlight Media was not part of their plan at all.

In other words, no matter how much Enlight Media's stock price falls, it has nothing to do with them; they have no need to stabilize Enlight Media's stock price.

All it takes is a panic.

The inflated stock price of Guangming will collapse.

That panic could be felt by oneself, or it could be felt by Xu Zheng...

too easy.

(End of this chapter)