Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 268: Kill the rich!
From the perspective of hindsight, the marketing of Kim Sung-woo's straw hat in "Wuxia" was stupid.

It’s worth $6000, not including the shipping cost from the United States. That’s all the world has to offer, and it has to be kept locked in a safe when not filming.

Is it necessary? Is it necessary?
This is why the audience is so easily fooled now. In the future, the stupidity of the straw hat marketing will be comparable to the submarine secrecy marketing in "Operation Jiaolong".

This also reflects to a certain extent the unscrupulousness of the "Wuxia" crew, who are openly making money!

Fortunately, the quality of the finished film "Wuxia" is quite good.

"The Piano in a Factory", which was invested and produced in the autumn, was also released this month. The release of this film went through a lot of hardships.

But it doesn’t matter. This movie is not here to make money. "The Piano in a Factory" won Wang Qianyuan the Best Actor award at the Tokyo Film Festival, so its mission has basically been accomplished.

Director Zhang Meng gave the piano in the play to Li Qiutang. The piano is now placed at the entrance of Autumn Pictures and can be seen as soon as you enter.

That’s what art films are like. You don’t expect to make money, but you have to support them, and Li Qiutang is willing to do so.

When "The Piano in a Factory" was released, Li Qiutang was still filming and was unable to attend to cheer.

After Li Qiutang finished filming "The Ordinary Man" at Zhulu Film and Television City in Hebei Province, he no longer needed his help in promoting "The Piano in a Factory".

Because "Transformers 3" is released!

In the past, summer vacation was regarded as a protected month by default, but this year, "Transformers 3" was included in the list, which is rare.

As soon as "Transformers 3" came out, all other summer movies lost their market share.

0.10 million, nearly 100 million on the first day.

It swept away the sluggish market in the early stage of the summer season.

Some movie fans predict that "Transformers 3" may sweep the entire summer season, and no other movie will be able to compete with it until mid-to-late August.

After Li Qiutang returned from Zhulu Film and Television City, the first thing he did was to meet Zhang Zhao and Xu Lin.

When the two generals took office in the fall, he, the boss, was not in the company.

When they met again, although their identities had changed, the three of them had a great conversation.

After a few pleasantries, we started talking about work.

Cao Ping has handed over the "Pacific Rim" project to Zhang Zhao, who is promoting coordination between the Chinese and American companies while selling shares domestically.

Yes, not only domestic companies want it, but some Japanese and Korean film companies have also inquired about it, especially Japan, which is particularly interested in mecha monsters.

But Qiu Tian only has the revenue rights of "Pacific Rim" in mainland China, and Zhang Zhao is even considering whether to sell the Japanese copyright to Legendary.

But Li Qiutang said no, "Although the Japanese like mecha monsters, this market is too weird. My suggestion is to let the Japanese talk to Legend, and we just take care of the mainland market."

There were many domestic bidders, and even state-owned companies like China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group wanted to get a piece of the Pacific Rim pie.

If this film was imported, it would naturally be a dish for China Film or Hua Xia Film Group, but now it has been intercepted by Li Qiutang and turned into a co-production. In the business world, don't blame Qiu Tian for not remembering their past friendship.

At this point, these film companies basically know that Qiu has bought out the mainland revenue rights of "Pacific Rim", but the specific amount is unknown.

Huayi's bid was still the most aggressive. Wang Zhonglei didn't care how much Li Qiutang spent. He assumed that the box office of "Pacific Rim" in mainland China was 6 million yuan. According to the theory of 3 times return on investment, Huayi paid Li Qiutang 2 million yuan to buy out all of Qiu Tang's shares.

"He said the price is negotiable." In fact, this price is really good. I spent 1.4 million to buy it in the fall, put a female lead in it, and made a net profit of million when I resell it.

But when doing business, you still have to compare prices from three different stores.

Next was LeEco. Jia's offer was no less than Wang Zhonglei's. After several rounds of probing, LeEco offered $2875 million, in both decimal and integer, to buy out Autumn's mainland revenue rights for Pacific Rim. Taking the exchange rate into account, LeEco's offer was only a few million lower than Huayi's.

"But they asked for the money to be paid off over 18 months."

"Tell him to get out!" Li Qiutang refused without a second thought. Even in the manufacturing industry, no one is so ruthless. "When he does his own accounting, he spreads the money over 18 months. I have no right to interfere. How can you pay for a film like this? He wants to earn interest from me, right?"

Then Guangxian, Berna, and even Xiaoma made bids, but only Huayi and LeTV asked for a buyout.

Zhang Zhao’s suggestion was to sell it to Huayi, but at a higher price.

"6 million is too little. I estimate this movie will make 8 million," Zhang Zhao predicted.

Li Qiutang remembers that the original "Pacific Rim" earned more than 6 million to nearly 7 million yuan in China, making it the first Hollywood movie whose box office in China exceeded that in North America.

Now that Liu Yifei has been cast in the lead role, the mainland box office may increase, but Li Qiutang has no idea how much.

"With 8 million, Huayi has little room for profit."

Zhang Zhao laughed and said, "He doesn't rely on box office profits either."

He can still make money by taking this film to the capital market to tell a story, or by having Huayi find a sucker and resell it.

Li Qiutang thought about it and said, "It's not good to sell them all at once. We have to keep some of them, otherwise the market will say that we are colluding with Legend to make a fool of ourselves."

Is this true? If the project is really that good, would you let someone buy it out? You bought the mainland revenue from Legendary, and after telling the story in China, you sold it at a higher price, leaving nothing for yourself. Is there something fishy going on?

If they are really sold out in the fall, it will arouse suspicion from others.

Li Qiutang said his plan: "In this way, the mainland box office is estimated to be 8 million, we take half, and the remaining 4 million..." Li Qiutang also used the calculator and found that it could not be divided evenly, "Sell it as 1.4 million."

Zhang Zhao thought about it and agreed to this plan. As long as the shares were sold, the investment would be recovered in the fall, and the half share in his hand would be pure profit, and he could also gain the market's trust. I didn't cheat you, I still hold half of the shares in my hand, and I'm betting with you.

After discussing Pacific Rim, Zhang Zhao proposed a company reform plan. Having joined Qiu almost a month ago, he has already understood some of it.

He suggested to Li Qiutang that they should divest themselves from the TV series and focus on making movies in the future.

Li Qiutang understood immediately that Zhang Zhao must have encountered opposition from Cao Ping. The TV series in the autumn had always been under the supervision of Cao Ping. It would be very difficult for Zhang Zhao to shake Cao Ping's base.

But Li Qiutang knew that Zhang Zhao was right. Movies and TV series could belong to different labels, but should not be concentrated in one company.

Li Qiutang supports Zhang Zhao's decision to separate the TV drama department: "Let's separate the TV drama department as an independent business department, but let the investment, management, marketing and distribution share the same team as the film department."

"I'll have a meeting with Cao Ping in a few days to see how to deal with this matter."

Considering that the Autumn TV series already had a certain brand effect, Autumn Pictures still allowed them to use the name Autumn to take care of the feelings of the TV series department. Li Qiutang set up a company called Century Autumn for them and incorporated the TV series department into it.

Nothing changed except for a sign hung on the door. Employees did not have to move their workstations. Cao Ping served as CEO and chief producer, and was at the same level as Zhang Zhao within Haitang International Group, reporting directly to Li Qiutang.

Naturally, she had no objection to being separated from the film business, which she was unfamiliar with and unwilling to manage, and becoming the boss of an independent TV drama department.

(End of this chapter)