Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 228: Humiliating offer? Ma Xun wins!

"Am I brave? If you ask me, it's you, Mrs. Zhong, who are really brave."

"Don't, stop talking..."

White Swan’s Cantonese pastries are very famous. One of them is the Swan Pastry, which is shaped like a swan and features an unusually crispy texture.

Ma Xun really liked her, but this time Mrs. Zhong came.

Well, let's do a little experiment.

Let her hold a swan biscuit in each hand, and then see if she can resist the urge to crush it.

When Zhong Chuhong heard about this experiment, her face turned red, but she found it very interesting in her heart.

It's just an experiment, let's give it a try and see.

As a result, even though she tried her best to endure it, she couldn't last more than five minutes.

The two swan cakes were crushed into pieces, so what should I do with the sticky feeling on my hands?
I can't just smear it on the bed sheets, so why not...

……

Although Ma Xun's main point is to get straight to the point, he knows very well why Mrs. Zhong came here.

He is definitely here to discuss something, definitely about "The Legend of Zu".

Make peace?

Or surrender and lose half?
Of course Ma Xun wouldn't suffer any loss, and he wasn't in a hurry either.

So, why not try it first.

Zhong Chuhong did come here to shoulder responsibilities, but those things will have to wait for now.

Even when eating, she didn't bring up the topic of movies.

After a deep communication with Ma Xun, she felt that she was a real woman.

In the Zhu family, and even in her own small family, she now feels extremely depressed.

Although, Cherie Chung is still sure that her husband loves her, his illness now occupies most of their lives.

Of course she would not choose to leave Mike, but she also needed to be herself again.

Ma Xun can make her feel good and make her forget everything in reality temporarily.

Unfortunately, we still have to return to reality.

"You win this time."

"I know, if that's all Mrs. Zhong was going to say, then it's meaningless."

"Don't always call me Mrs. Zhong, it makes me..."

"Okay, Mrs. Zhu."

"Oh my, you are going too far!"

Ma Xun was just joking with Chung Chuhong, but it also opened up their conversation.

"Okay, then I'll say something serious. It's useless for them to surrender now. Besides, even if I stop, their film can't be saved."

This made Zhong Chuhong nod her head, "You are right, the current situation is very clear, Long Wu, Xu Laoguai and others have already accepted it.

But you should also know that all you can do now is to recover the losses, and recover as much as you can.

All means are acceptable.”

The last sentence is actually the key.

Ma Xun had already made a rough guess before, and now that Chung Chuhong said it, it was just a confirmation.

"Any means will do? Then why don't you come to me directly instead of sending you?"

These words were a bit tricky, and Chung Chuhong blushed.

"Actually, I volunteered. After all, I have discussed business with you several times before. Naturally, the main reason was that I wanted to test your background first."

Ma Xun smiled after hearing this, "They definitely don't know. They can't find out my background, but I know your background very well."

It's really dirty.

This caused Mrs. Zhong to punch her in the face, but the Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong still had a smile on her face and continued, "Don't be so frivolous, this is a good opportunity to make money."

She was right, but it was not easy to make money.

Ma Xun pretended to be confused and said, "How else can we make money? Is there anything else to sell in this movie? Besides, judging from the current situation, the box office is so bad, it will be difficult to make money even if we get the copyright."

This is a clever way of pretending to be confused. In fact, what he is saying is that the only thing that can interest people in "The Legend of Zu" now is the remaining copyright.

However, what Ma Xun said was also a loss, because the North American copyright of this film has been sold to Miramax.

Moreover, what makes Long Wu and his team so powerful is that they have good cooperative relations with Japan and South Korea.

Jet Li’s movies have sold quite a lot there before, and Long Wu has also been doing a lot of copyright business.

So, how much is left now?
Although Zhong Chuhong's mission was to test Ma Xun, she definitely took the initiative to reveal her background.

"The Japanese and Korean copyrights of The Legend of Zu have not been sold yet, and the people at Miramax are very smart. Now that they see that our box office is not doing well, they are also planning to leave as soon as possible."

"Oh, you mean, they want to sell their American copyright at a low price?"

"That's for sure. Besides, there's another problem here. The other party's money hasn't been fully transferred."

"So how many people have been called? Thirty percent? Fifty percent?"

For this kind of copyright business, the agreement is only the first half, and there is also the payment stage afterwards.

Well, actually, all business in the world is like this. The payment process is often much more important than the previous negotiations.

News about people being delayed in receiving payments is everywhere.

There are also many people doing engineering projects. Sometimes the business talks are very big, but in the end they only receive a down payment.

If they just won’t give you the balance, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Ma Xun remembered that there was a news report later about a project with a quoted price of millions, but it was finally contracted to the construction party for 100 million, and then they were given 20. The construction party also built the project, but then they kept refusing to pay the balance with various excuses.

The construction party was so angry that he demolished what had been built.

Didn't you say it was unqualified? Okay, we'll tear it down and rebuild it.

In this matter, the construction party was absolutely right, but the most surprising thing was that the entire industry was shocked.

That is to say, in the past, construction parties basically only took the down payment and left with a loss.

Now it comes to "The Legend of Zu", how much did Long Wu and others receive from Miramax?
"I don't have a definite number, but it's probably about $60, or percent."

When Zhong Chuhong said this, Ma Xun couldn't help but laugh.

Miramax is the company of the Weinstein brothers. These two are not ordinary people. They are very good at playing in Hollywood.

Many Hollywood actresses who want to film have to queue up to be played by these brothers.

Moreover, although this company seems small and has only average fame.

But in fact, the Weinstein brothers have a very strong relationship with Disney, and they originally released some relatively explicit movies for Disney.

In addition, they discovered the famous director Quentin Tarantino, so the two brothers are very powerful in Hollywood.

At present, they are mainly engaged in international trade, that is, they engage in various copyright transactions, collect movies from all over the world, and bring them to the North American market.

Later, "Hero" was successfully operated.

But, there is a bad thing about these two products.

Basically, they just offer to buy out Chinese films for $200 million.

In fact, they came when the film project was just launched, and used the $200 million as bait.

Now that Chung Chuhong said this, Ma Xun basically understood everything.

Long Wu was fooled by the Weinstein brothers. Those two guys probably don't want to pay the balance.

Moreover, we also need to hold the copyright of this movie.

Long Wu and the others must be anxious. If they can't get the balance back, they will be left with nothing.

Of course, the root cause is the poor box office performance of "The Legend of Zu".

If the box office is good, then everything will be fine.

Now... Ma Xun analyzed it and came up with a plan. He smiled and said to Zhong Chuhong: "If Miramax wants to withdraw, I can give them a chance.

This also gives Long Wu and Xu Laoguai an opportunity.

In short, I could pay $60 and take over the Miramax contract."

"This……"

Zhong Chuhong understood that Ma Xun was planning to eat up the original $60 million contract with $200.

Although this may sound mismatched, that's how business works. It's good enough that someone is willing to take this crappy contract.

Miramax can get out of this predicament, but can Long Wu and the others... suffer such a loss?
Ma Xun continued, "Of course, there is more to it than that. I also plan to offer 520 million Hong Kong dollars for the copyrights of Japan, South Korea and mainland China."

520 million, but this time it’s Hong Kong dollars.

After hearing this, Zhong Chuhong frowned slightly and couldn't help but said, "This price is too low."

It was indeed very low, and Cherie Chung understood it completely.

The North American copyright of "The Legend of Zu" was sold for only US$60, no more.

But the additional 520 million Hong Kong dollars from Ma Xun is equivalent to making up the remaining part of the 200 million US dollar contract.

In other words, for US$60 plus HK$520 million, Ma Xun will get the copyright of "The Legend of Zu" in North America, Japan, South Korea, and mainland China.

Ma Xun still smiled and said, "Anyway, this is my offer. If they agree, then sign the contract and I will transfer the money immediately. If they don't agree, then find someone else to take over."

In terms of bargaining, he was basically wielding the Dragon Slaying Sword!

But if we look at the current box office performance of "The Legend of Zu".

Ma Xun, this is definitely the best solution.

"Well... okay, I'll try." After all, Cherie Chung is just a middleman, responsible for passing on messages.

Ma Xun added a few words, "This movie definitely has no chance in North America, at most it still has a little chance in Japan and South Korea.

This is a very conscientious offer I made.

I'm taking a big risk too.

Who knows how the Japanese and Korean markets will react?

Moreover, I have another request, which is to be related to Jiahe."

When he said this, Chung Chuhong immediately understood, "Don't worry, I will help you get "My Sassy Girl" screened in Hong Kong, and Golden Harvest will definitely sign a profit-sharing contract this time."

Not bad, not bad, it is beneficial to do things with people you know.

It's like she knows to change her position as soon as you pat her butt.

Of course, Cherie Chung didn’t really understand Ma Xun.

This guy actually has some deeper meaning, but there is no need to say it now.

So, can Long Wu and the others agree to this condition?
……

After spending two days with Ma Xun, Cherie Chung returned to Hong Kong.

After all, she was on a 'business' trip this time, to discuss serious business.

It's really not good to waste too much time.

Soon, Chung Chuhong handed the plan proposed by Ma Xun to Zhu Jiading's elder brother.

Of course, the boss of Xiantao immediately met with Long Wu and Xu Laoguai.

"What? Such conditions?"

Long Wu was about to explode when he heard this!

Ma Xun's offer is simply insulting.

But Old Monster Xu spoke up, "But for now, it's already good enough that someone can pay for it."

He's a weird guy, but definitely smart.

The current state of "The Legend of Zu" is such that no boss is interested in it.

Long Wu was helpless and looked at Boss Zhu of Xiantao again.

Their attitude was very peaceful because they had done everything they should have done and given all the discounts that Xiantao Digital should have given.

Now I have helped.

You, Long Wu, make the choice.

"Everyone! Wait for me."

After saying this, Long Wu left.

Long Wu would definitely have to discuss matters like this with his Thirteenth Brother.

So, a phone call was made to the capital.

The Thirteenth Young Master was admitted to the hospital again, and after receiving the call, he pondered for a while.

“Indeed, this is a relatively low offer, but on the one hand, it can solve the US contract, and on the other hand, it can make an extra 520 million. It is indeed not much, but it is also a sum of money.

He didn’t mention the Taiwanese copyright, right?”

"Humph! Apparently this guy also understands how good our relationship with Taiwan is."

Long Wu is still very energetic.

Ma Xun didn't mention it because he knew there was no way to get money from there, and the movie "The Legend of Zu" couldn't be released there yet.

But at this moment, the Thirteenth Young Master on the other end of the phone seemed to suddenly think of something.

"Where does he get this money from?"

ah? this……

Long Wu was stunned for a moment and asked, "Where can it come from?"

Thirteenth Young Master started coughing, but fortunately, he finally spoke, "We were fooled by him. 60 US dollars, plus 520 million Hong Kong dollars, how much is this?"

Long Wu then realized that something was wrong, "This, this seems to be..."

Thirteenth Young Master said angrily: "This money is the 1000 million I had before!"

The exchange rate between Hong Kong dollar and US dollar can be regarded as 8:1.
In fact, those who are familiar with Hong Kong dollars know that there are four words printed on the note: "Pay upon presentation of ticket". In fact, this is an exchange coupon.

60 US dollars is 480 Hong Kong dollars.

Plus 520 million Hong Kong dollars...

Isn’t this just ten million?
So infuriating!
Long Wu is angry, but what about Shisan Shao?
The call was hung up quickly, and Thirteenth Young Master seemed to have called another doctor.

Are you seriously ill because of anger?

Long Wu could only say a few simple words for the moment; he still had to do his business.

There is no way, the compensation this time is really too heavy.

The investment in "The Legend of Zu" was actually less than 100 million yuan, probably around 80 million yuan.

Of course I have to tell the outside world that the number is 100 million.

But even if it's only 80 million, the current box office is really not enough to make back the investment.

It was only when Long Wu returned to Hong Kong that he realized that the box office in Hong Kong was even worse!

The mainland has now received over 700 million, but Hong Kong has only received about million.

Now, do you want to accept Ma Xun’s humiliating offer?

Returning to Old Monster Xu and Boss Zhu, Long Wu's expression changed immediately.

“The price is really too little, but it seems acceptable.”

Money is still the most important thing...

At this point, Ma Xun won a great victory, not only winning the box office battle, but also taking the other party's copyright.

Next, it will depend on whether "My Sassy Girl" can reverse the situation of the summer season!

(End of this chapter)