Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 80 "Apology"

Li Qiutang is very willing to kick a fallen dog. It can be said that the outcome of "Seeing the Dragon Resurrection" and "Arrogant" has been decided.

But Li Qiutang didn't mind hitting the nail again: "Shu Kingdom is what we call it in later generations, or it's the name historians use to make it clear. Liu Bei is a descendant of the authentic Liu Han royal family. He ruled Shu in the name of supporting the Han Dynasty. In 221 AD, Liu Bei founded a country and proclaimed himself emperor. The country was named Han, and it is known in history as Shu Han. If you ask anyone who knows history, Liu Bei would not shout "Long live Shu Kingdom."

Li Qiutang's words were undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back for "Seeing the Dragon Resurrect".

Chinese audiences are the most aesthetically diverse and tolerant in the world, but they are also the most demanding.

Especially for historical themes, if it is a fictional historical movie like "The Banquet" or "Curse of the Golden Flower", the audience will just watch it for fun. But once you shoot a real historical dynasty, there will be audiences who will find fault with you. Domestic audiences do not allow real history to be excessively parodied.

Hong Kong directors will not understand this lesson for the time being, otherwise they would not be able to make a movie like "Guan Yunchang".

Why did no one criticize "No One"? "No One" is about the story of the Tang Dynasty.

This is the advantage of the subject matter. "No One in My Heart" is positioned as a martial arts film. As long as the man doesn't pull out a pistol in the middle of a fight, who would pick on its historical mistakes in a martial arts film?

"Resurrection of the Dragon" is different. It is positioned as a historical war film, and it is about the Three Kingdoms, which is most familiar to Chinese audiences.

Besides, the audience’s criticism of “Resurrection of the Dragon” is not all due to its historical errors, but mainly due to the story and art design.

But Li Rengang and Yu Dong never expected that "Resurrection of the Dragon" would be slain by "No One".

Not only Yu Dong couldn't think of it, Hua Yi didn't expect it either!

Zhao Wenzhuo, Huang Xiaoming, Fan Bingbing, Huo Siyan, and everyone in the "Arrogant" crew did not expect this!

"Resurrection of the Dragon", a war blockbuster with an investment of 2500 million US dollars and starring Andy Lau and Sammo Hung, lost to a martial arts film with an investment of just over 2000 million?
The first weekend saw a good result of 4 million in 5000 days, and it is certain to break million. Wang Zhonglei can open the champagne in advance!
While Wang Zhonglei was happy, he was also worried.

That day, the secretary told him that after Li Qiutang finished the creative meeting of "The Sound of the Wind", he discussed with Director Han about the release of "To Become Famous".

Wang Zhonglei immediately asked his secretary to contact Li Qiutang: "Invite him to dinner tonight and tell him directly that the company wants to buy "Famous".

If Li Qiutang hadn't said this, she might have directly rejected Wang Zhonglei's invitation.

Wang Zhonglei knew that his subordinates had "embarrassed" Li Qiutang on "To Become Famous", but he didn't care at the time. He was delighted with Li Qiutang's creative passion, but out of prudence, he also wanted to wait until the results of "Desperate" came out.

But now he has to invest in "Famous", and "No One" will definitely break the 100 million mark. Li Qiutang's fame in the circle has been completely established, and he is about to become the tenth Chinese-speaking and fourth mainland member of the 100 million yuan director club.

Such a director is the one that all film companies are vying to make friends with. Moreover, Li Qiutang and Huayi already had an agreement in advance. Wang Zhonglei must now stabilize Li Qiutang, otherwise, if the outside world knows that Huayi did not invest in "Famous", the public opinion that has finally eased will be stirred up again.

As long as the conditions were not excessive, Wang Zhonglei was willing to buy "To Become Famous".

At the same time, Wang Zhonglei was once again glad that he signed Li Qiutang. Their strategy of raising insects seems to be very successful at the moment. "No One" has grossed over 24 million yuan, and the -year-old Li Qiutang is about to become the youngest director in the million yuan club. Feng Xiaogang must be under a lot of pressure.

The company's financial report this year should be very good.

Only Wang Zhonglei and Li Qiutang were invited to the banquet today.

Directors with a box office of over 100 million yuan are still very valuable nowadays, and Wang Zhonglei was very polite to Li Qiutang.

He knew that Li Qiutang didn't like beating around the bush, so he came straight to the point and said that the company was indeed short of funds last year and that some aspects were not done well: "The money for the 06 and 07 films is almost paid back, and the company has money to support you." He first used "The Sound of Wind" as an example. Now he had no reason to refuse Li Qiutang from filming "The Sound of Wind". "Don't worry, although we are cooperating with China Film this time, the company will definitely give you the greatest help. We will not pay less than China Film."

After a month of talks, the two parties had basically reached an agreement on their share, but the sudden appearance of "No One" added variables to the negotiations, but overall it should remain stable.

Li Qiutang first thanked Wang Zhonglei for his support for "The Sound of Wind", only to hear Wang Zhonglei say: "You also put "Famous" in the company and released it to China Film. Others will laugh at it." Your director just made a movie for you that grossed over 100 million yuan, and you're releasing your new movie to others? Is Huayi still a player in this industry?
Li Qiutang was quite open-minded. He had the copyright of "To Be Famous" and he could decide who to release it to.

Mr. Han took this into consideration when he raised investment for Li Qiutang in his personal name. Although China Film and Huayi are competitors, Mr. Han did not invest in the name of China Film in order to maintain stability.

But Li Qiutang still said: "At least give China Film a joint distribution."

"That's no problem." Wang Zhonglei agreed readily. Mr. Han came to his rescue and he got on board later. This is what China Film deserves.

How to buy and how to calculate the share will be discussed in a special meeting after dinner, so we won’t discuss it for now.

Wang Zhonglei had another matter to discuss with Li Qiutang: "The company has been actively seeking to go public in the past two years. All necessary procedures are being followed. There shouldn't be any major problems. It should be within the next two years."

"Yeah." Just go public if you want to. As long as you can give me the money for making the film, I don't care whether you go public or not.

Wang Zhonglei seemed to be telling Li Qiutang something good: "The company's development dividends should also benefit you, the backbone of the company, so the company has recently been working on the subscription of original shares. Many people have subscribed to an original share, including Xiao Ming, Bing Bing and others."

Huayi is developing very well now, and the original shares are definitely profitable. What Wang Zhonglei said about the development dividends benefiting the employees is really true.

Speaking of this, Wang Zhonglei smiled bitterly and said, "Before you, I talked to Zhou Xun about this. I told her to buy some and she would definitely make money, but she refused to buy. She said she didn't understand stocks and couldn't understand it. I told her that it didn't matter if she didn't understand it and just leave it alone. In the end, she still didn't buy it."

Li Qiutang smiled and said, "She is that kind of person."

"You should understand stocks." Wang Zhonglei said with a smile.

"Not bad." Li Qiutang nodded with a smile.

In order to persuade Li Qiutang to buy stocks, Wang Zhonglei acted like an enthusiastic salesman: "Bingbing and Hanyu bought 36 shares, and Xiaoming bought the most, 180 million shares."

"Xiao Ming is very generous." Li Qiutang said.

Wang Zhonglei said: "Xiao Ming has a good investment sense. He borrowed the money to buy the stocks."

Although Xiao Ming is popular, he has not made much money in the past two years. The pay for "The Condor Heroes" and "The Deer and the Cauldron" is not high, and the pay for movies is even lower. He mainly relies on endorsements.

It should be said that these days, the pay of stars is not high, and no one makes money from pay.

Seeing that Li Qiutang was interested in this, Wang Zhonglei added fuel to the fire: "The company allows artists to buy up to 180 million shares, just like Xiao Ming, but you are a director, you are different, you can buy 200 million shares."

"I see. The director has special privileges."

"Directors are more valuable than actors." Wang Zhonglei said with a smile, "Do you want to buy some?"

“Just buy some.” Huayi’s original shares were indeed valuable, and Li Qiutang was willing to invest.

"Okay. I think you should buy 200 million shares at the maximum price, and I'll give you 1 yuan per share on average. I'll also give you 20 shares."

"Then thank you, Mr. Wang, for helping me make money." Li Qiutang said with a smile.

"It's a win-win situation for everyone." Wang Zhonglei said with a smile. It would be easy if he accepted the stocks. He was really afraid that Li Qiutang would not accept them.

Wang Zhonglei's gesture of goodwill to Li Qiutang was essentially an apology, and Li Qiutang decided to take it as it came.

(End of this chapter)