Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 340 Happy to be a father

Six o'clock in the evening, Gongjian Hutong.

In early September in Beijing, some heat still lingered.

Before it got dark, Boss Lu led Ma Yun, Ma Huateng, Zhou Hongyi, Zhang Chaoyang and others in.

The sky above is framed by the eaves of the courtyard into a deep blue. The old locust trees in the yard are lush and green, casting mottled light and shadows.

The future Internet giants can walk along the blue brick path and see the main hall.

A set of carved mahogany tables and chairs was placed in the center, with exquisite blue and white porcelain tableware on top.

In the corner, an antique screen cleverly divides the space. Flowers, birds, fish and insects are painted on the screen, which are lifelike.

On the other side, on a Ming Dynasty-style table, there is a beautifully shaped bronze incense burner, with curls of green smoke rising from it, adding a touch of elegance to the entire space.

Lao Ma likes this tonality and sighs with emotion: "With such a quiet house in the bustling city, Mr. Lu really lives a fairy-like life."

"If Mr. Ma is interested, I can give you a few sets."

Ma Yun was surprised: "Really? It seems that Mr. Lu still has a lot of goods?"

"I was young and ignorant, so I stockpiled a lot." Boss Lu said modestly.

Ma Huateng, with a somewhat reserved expression, shook his head: "Mr. Lu is too low-key. I bought a house for my father in Nanluoguxiang last year. Your Ice Cellar Palace can't compare."

"The price is not low, it's almost 21,000 yuan per square meter."

The average price of a courtyard house at this moment is not very reliable as a reference because of the complexity of the property rights and transactions are basically negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

However, the average price of Ma Huateng's house is almost three times what Boss Lu paid for the Ice House Palace in 2002.

Zhang Chaoyang is a man who loves to eat and play. He is also a pioneer in the field of portal websites and has done some research on Siheyuan.

"In the past two years, the city has introduced policies that no longer restrict purchases by non-local residents and foreigners. Last year, they also promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of Historical and Cultural Cities. That's why prices have skyrocketed!"

Boss Lu personally took everyone on a tour before returning to the restaurant. Chef Qiao found two kitchen helpers and had already started serving the dishes.

On the table were Huaiyang famous dishes such as crab meat lion head, Wensi tofu, and soft-shelled eel, and a few bottles of wine were placed next to the blue and white porcelain plates.

"You can choose any red, yellow, or white. Please feel free to do as you please. I won't force you to drink today."

Zhou Hongyi was a bit rough around the edges, and usually didn't take care of his appearance. He wasn't used to the extravagance of these wealthy people. "Let me have some Moutai."

Liu Qiangdong responded: "I'll accompany Mr. Zhou and drink some white wine."

Except for Ma Yun who insisted on drinking rice wine, everyone else chose Haut-Brion, which Boss Lu had purchased from an ancient castle owner abroad.

It comes from Château d'Aubignan, one of the five famous wineries, and the only one of the five that is not in the Médoc region.

From their drinking habits, we can see the personality differences among several Internet tycoons who have not yet achieved great success.

Ma Yun is obsessed with classical culture such as Jin Yong and Kung Fu, and naturally he also likes rice wine, which is a cultural symbol of his hometown. It is mellow and gentle, just like the Ali he leads and his personal management style.

It is both elegant and pioneering.

Xiao Ma Ge's family conditions are excellent. Both his personal temperament and the development of his Internet career have a delicate and exquisite background like red wine.

As for Zhou Hongyi and Dongzi, they both have the spicy and strong side of Chinese liquor in their personalities, and have the boldness and fighting spirit of the gangsters.

As for Zhou Hongyi personally, he has fought against BAT in turn in later generations and is a very interesting entrepreneur.

Zhang Chaoyang, who loves singing, is similar to Boss Lu. He is considered a half-internet industry fun-loving person. When he encounters a red wine of such a rare vintage, he naturally wants to try it.

Of course the host has to raise a glass first:
"My dear friends, I am half an internet industry person, and most of you here have only had some dealings with Lao Ma."

Zhang Chaoyang asked curiously, "Haven't you heard of it?"

Ma Yun laughed and said, "Two or three years ago, Mr. Lu was waving his money to buy a stake in Ali, but unfortunately I was in Tokyo at the time, and SoftBank later invested another $3000 million."

Dongzi sneered in his heart. It must be Ma Yunchou who rejected his boss at that time, otherwise Wenjie Mall would not have been born.

After all, there is a huge gap in the actual impact between the 3000 million yuan earned by a film director and the 3000 million yuan in the hands of Masayoshi Son, who has a background in multinational corporations and consortiums.

Even if Boss Lu has reached this position today, Ma Yun's choice will not change.

The young director continued: "Today, I listened carefully to the instructions of the leaders and the speeches of the industry leaders. I am sincerely happy for the development of the domestic Internet industry."

"I won't say anything else. We've all met today and become friends. Let's drink first."

Zhou Hongyi and Liu Qiangdong were the first to respond: "Come on, cheers!"

No matter whether the others were sincere or not, in this social gathering, everyone was being nice to each other.

After three rounds of drinks, Zhang Chaoyang said with emotion: "Among so many young entrepreneurs in China, I envy Mr. Lu the most."

"What do you mean?" Boss Lu was picking up steamed shad with chopsticks.

"Not to mention wandering around the entertainment industry, which is full of sensual pleasures and possessing huge assets and wealth, everyone here has some wealth."

Zhang Chaoyang said with envy: "But one thing is that Lu always spends most of his time doing what he likes to do. This is very rare."

"I recently read a serialized novel on a blog called 'Those Things About the Ming Dynasty.' The author's writing is quite interesting."

Dangnian Mingyue, as a strategic part of the grassroots star of Blog.com, was poached from Tianya at the beginning of his career.

"This book describes the emperors, generals, talented scholars and beautiful women of the Ming Dynasty, but my favorite part is the part about Xu Xiake at the end."

Zhang Chaoyang lamented, "The author said, 'The reason I wrote about Xu Xiake is to tell you that the so-called century-long fame, millennium-long hegemony, and eternal reputation are actually nothing compared to one thing.'"

“It’s all about living your life the way you want to live it.”

Lao Ma liked this sentimental tone the most and slammed the table: "That's well said! It makes everything clear!"

"Indeed, Mr. Lu's artistic talent and hobbies are incomparable to us ordinary people." Ma Huateng's face also turned rosy after drinking.

Boss Lu smiled and said, "I may be modest in other matters, but I cannot deny what Lao Zhang said."

"Honestly speaking, no matter how much money I make, it all goes towards making movies for me and working in related industries. There are so many ways to make money, but I only take this one."

"Art is intoxicating. In this respect, I am slightly better than most of you here."

The young director smiled and clinked glasses with Zhang Chaoyang, Ma Yun and others, and offered his best wishes to the unassuming Sohu CEO: "Old Zhang, if one day you feel stuck in your business, why not learn from Tao Yuanming, 'The weary bird returns to the mountains and forests.'"

"It would be nice to sing on our Travel Channel show, or be a visiting professor at a university.

Zhang Chaoyang's eyes lit up: "That's a great idea! I'll keep it in mind. Thank you!"

Ma Yun said, half-seriously, "Boss Zhang, you've been bewitched by Boss Lu!"

"If you retreat at this early stage, won't his "Wenjie Video" lose a competitor?"

"Not really, not really." Zhang Chaoyang waved his hands.

"Wenjie Video's film library is several times larger than ours, especially some of Golden Harvest's older films. When copyright issues are brought to the table, these will be Mr. Lu's competitive advantages."

He put down his wine glass and suddenly frowned, "Speaking of this, Mr. Lu, I've already talked to Liu Hong about it."

"Both of us are being called the wronged ones in the industry right now. We've collected so many copyrights. Do you think we should work together to urge the authorities to enact anti-piracy regulations? This is also for the healthy development of the entire industry!"

Boss Lu nodded: "Of course, let's find time to talk alone later."

He wanted this time to be later.

The reason is simple: we haven’t accumulated enough copyrights yet.

The more you buy now, the more "wasted money" you spend, and the wider your moat will be in the future.

Zhang Chaoyang was a little drunk today. He was already interested in the entertainment industry, and today was a good opportunity for him to get close to Boss Lu.

As the godfather of the mainland Internet, Zhang Chaoyang is different from entrepreneurs like Ma Huateng who disdain to show up in the public eye. He likes to travel around.

He also packaged himself as an artist, and he appeared on stage at various film and television events, Sohu Video, and even Big S's wedding later, looking very happy.

Ma Huateng suddenly raised his glass to toast, smiling: "Mr. Lu, I have always wanted to ask you a question."

"What kind of language is this? Let's communicate."

Xiao Ma Ge took a sip of the scarlet wine and said, "You sold Mytube in North America, started a company called Weibo, and even promoted it on a TV show."

"Looking back over the past few months, it seems like there's only one company called Twitter in North America right now, just like you..."

"Oh, it was merged with my company." Boss Lu sighed. "You don't know, it's similar to Mytube. Foreign investors can't hold on to a company like this."

The young director met the crowd's puzzled gazes, saying, "This involves vigilance and precautions against Western ideology. We won't allow foreigners to control such an influential media company."

"Unless someone is of Chinese descent, like Mr. Zhou's former boss, Mr. Jerry Yang, then they might not be suspected."

"So I later sold the company to a Chinese-American investor and focused on making movies in the United States. I had no choice."

Boss Lu drank a sip of bitter wine with a depressed look on his face.

The future bigwigs here do not have such vision now, and their companies and main businesses are still some distance away from going overseas.

At present, there is still no deep understanding of the US's use of judicial means to carry out economic plunder and political suppression.

Ma Yun hesitated, "Isn't Mr. Lu being too cautious? To be honest, Weibo's model is still very advanced. I think Twitter is developing quite well too."

"It would be a shame for you to sell it like this."

Ma Huateng and Zhang Chaoyang's eyes flickered. Entrepreneurs of their level had certainly noticed this model a long time ago.

Especially Zhang Chaoyang, who has been following this internet entrepreneur disguised as a director since he started watching the Wenjie video.

Lu Kuan said seriously, "Perhaps only Old Zhou here knows that the US amended the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1998."

"This law has extraterritorial effect. As long as foreign companies use US dollars to sign contracts or send, receive, or store emails through servers located in the United States, the United States believes it has the right to investigate and prosecute them."

The legal basis of the subsequent Alstom incident originated from this.

Of course, this is a trick used by the United States to deceive the people of the world in order to cover up its wolfish ambitions and the illegitimacy of its long-arm jurisdiction.

There's nothing we can do except have a strong fist as a backdrop.

Everyone present suddenly looked solemn, and when they looked at the young director in front of them, their eyes were different again.

Zhou Hongyi felt sympathetic: "It's still safe here. At least the personal safety of entrepreneurs is guaranteed."

Ma Huateng agreed: "That's right."

The two of them clinked glasses with emotion.

Boss Lu looked at his nose and then at his mouth, resisting the urge to film this conversation with his mobile phone.

I wonder if there will be another 3Q war in this life, or the strange story of the Red-robed Leader running to Hong Kong Island at night.

Whether it was Zhang Chaoyang or Ma Huateng, everyone present was curious about this previously mysterious young entrepreneur and asked each other about him for a while.

But the one who was most worried today was undoubtedly Ma Yun.

In her previous life, Ma Yun had invested in Huayi both as a company and as an individual, becoming the third largest shareholder.

In this life, he naturally developed an interest in entering the entertainment industry.

He wanted to get involved in the venture capital industry, but in the past three or four years, domestic venture capitalists have been working hard and no one has been able to catch their eye.

Only last year did Xiong Xiaoge and Xu Xin of Tomorrow Capital invest in Wenjie Mall, a subsidiary of Wenjie, and they were rushing to catch up with Ali.

In fact, his marriage with Huayi was based on this fact.

If you don't plan for the future, you will have immediate worries. Ali's advantage over the Wenjie Mall is not absolute.

Alipay became independent in 2004, and Wenjie is also developing its own payment business;
The deep bundling and event marketing between Wenjie Mall and celebrities such as Liu Yifei and Jay Chou are something that Ali does not have;

Wenjie Mall has taken a different approach, attempting to overtake others by developing logistics and providing delivery services. Even though the results are not visible now, this is something that Ali does not have.

Furthermore, Huayi is not only backed by domestic Guanliao Capital, but also has joint ventures and shareholding relationships with Warner and News Corporation, two of the Big Six Hollywood companies.

Apart from Wenjie, is there any other film and television company or entertainment company in China that is worth considering for him to choose?
Lao Ma, not forgetting the main mission of today's trip, spoke tentatively, "Mr. Lu, you're a master in both the entertainment industry and the internet. What do you think of the Ali Star Search project I consulted you about this morning? Is it going anywhere?"

"I really didn't pay much attention to it, Mr. Ma. It's just a talent show? A collaboration with Hunan TV?"

"Yes."

Boss Lu pondered for two seconds and said, "Let's do it. In fact, the model of the inquiry industry in recent years has been thoroughly studied."

"It's nothing more than good works and programs promoting celebrities, monetizing them through the internet and SP traffic, while at the same time, the popularity feeds back into internet products, works, and programs, forming a virtuous cycle."

"But the quality of the program, whether the people you select have the potential to become big stars, and whether the internet products used for monetization are suitable, all require further refinement."

Even if he didn't mention it, this is the consensus in the industry today.

The "ace product" is Xiao Liu.

Ma Yun clapped his hands: "The road is always open and clear. Since you have said it so clearly, then we will do our best!"

He stood up. Although he was much shorter than Boss Lu, his aura as a great man of the times was unmatched. "Come on, Boss Lu, I must toast you with this glass!"

"I watched your speech at the Beijing Film Academy on Wenjie Video a few days ago. You are a leader with great courage and a broad mind."

"To be honest, I am also obsessed with classical culture such as Jin Yong and martial arts, and I hope that these excellent Chinese cultures can spread abroad."

Ma Yun suddenly cracked another joke: "I'm going to share a little secret for you all to laugh at. Actually, I invested in Huayi because I wanted to see if there was a chance to invite Fang Long, Li Lianjie and others to film a martial arts film with me one day, so that I could indulge in the movie world!"

Boss Lu sneered in his heart, it turns out that you, Old Ma, have had this idea from now on.

"This movie must be supported by the industry, and Golden Harvest will 100% schedule it!"

The young director followed up with some polite remarks, and everyone laughed, creating a lively atmosphere.

There were drinks clinking on the table, and the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the courtyard swayed gently in the wind, its subtle fragrance floating in the air, interweaving with the chirping of a few sparrows resting under the eaves.

In the mainland Internet industry, there were two relatively famous dinner gatherings of industry leaders.

The first time was in 2001 by the West Lake in Lin'an. Jin Yong, who had already retired from writing, sat together with Ma Yun, Ding Lei, Zhang Chaoyang, Wang Zhidong and others, drinking wine and tea.

The second was the "Wuzhen Dinner" during the Fourth World Internet Conference. After it became a tradition, each session had one party taking the stage after another, reflecting the factional struggles in the Internet industry.

On this day in 2006, half of the Chinese Internet industry was present at this atypical dinner at the Ice House Palace where important figures had not yet gathered.

In the future Internet world, it doesn’t matter whether you are present today or absent.

Perhaps in the near future, Wenjie will inevitably compete directly with one or more of the people at the table.

For example, Ali has already invested in Huayi, and Penguin and Sohu have shown interest in the Weibo project.

Form alliances, either with enemies or friends.

Just as he told Concubine Liu Yi, fighting with others is endless fun.

This is also the fun of being reborn.
-
The 2006 China Internet Conference lasted three days.

However, Boss Lu showed up on the first day and completed his mission. After a round of flattery and outlook talks in the interview with the reporters, he quickly returned to the Shiqiu Film and Television Base in Jinling to continue filming the film.

Everything returned to normal. After a period of adjustment, the crew got back on track and the filming progress accelerated.

Whether it was the actor Tom Hanks and actress Moore, both of whom had strong professional abilities, or Liu Yifei, who deeply delved into the role, Lu Kuan, who always had a bad temper on the set, rarely found too many mistakes.

But some things have pros and cons.

Liu Yifei's immersion in the world has reduced the young director's efforts to help her divert her attention during this period.

In other words, as long as she hasn't grown to the point where she can control herself freely, she will inevitably be entangled with the reality of the character.

It's like rescuing a drowning person temporarily from the shore. As long as her swimming skills are not up to par, it will be risky to go back into the water.

The only thing is to let Liu Xiaoli and others keep an eye on her condition and make timely adjustments.

In mid-September, several key executives from the production team arrived from Peking. Gao Jun, Dong Shuangqiang, and Chen Zhixi arrived at the Sheraton, waiting for Boss Lu, who had just finished filming.

He had to take care of both the Olympic team and the film crew in Jinling, so if there were any important matters, he would naturally ask the employees in the industry to work remotely.

Boss Lu, with a stubble on his face, pushed the door open and entered his suite: "Have you been waiting for a long time?"

The three people who were chatting in the room stood up, and Chen Zhixi opened her luggage: "Boss Lu, I brought the tea you asked for."

"Okay, okay! I've been exhausted these past few days. I really can't do without tea and cigarettes to keep me awake."

Dong Shuangqiang saw that his eyes were a little darker: "Don't try too hard, take it easy."

"There's nothing I can do. We were delayed for more than ten days some time ago, so we have to catch up now."

Boss Lu asked Chen Zhixi to make him a drink right now: "Tom Hanks is so confused, working overtime every day, he must be missing his capitalist country now."

"Hahaha!"

A cup of tea was placed in front of each person. Chen Zhixi distributed a stack of materials to everyone, and Gao Jun also opened his work notebook with a blue cover that never changed.

"Mr. Lu, I heard from the industry that Warner is withdrawing from China!"

The young director frowned, feeling a little surprised. So early?
As early as 2001, when China joined the WTO, it pledged to open up investment in cinema chains and theaters to foreign investors, with the shareholding ratio not exceeding 50%.

Warner, one of the Big Six, entered China, and its subsidiary Warner International and Shanghai Film Group jointly established Yonghua Cinemas.

The peak of foreign hot money investment occurred in 2003, when the country raised the foreign shareholding ratio from 50% to 75%, and the world turned its attention to this corner of the East.

But at the beginning of this year, the state promulgated the "Several Opinions on Introducing Foreign Investment in the Cultural Field", which lowered the proportion to 49% and did not allow foreign investment to dominate.

In addition, in recent years, foreign investors' cinemas have felt the domination of mainland administrative power.

The distribution of tasks for various mainstream films gave them a headache, and they began to gradually withdraw.

But the timeline of this life seems a little early?
Gao Jun explained, "In addition to policy factors, the main reason was the impact our ultra-high-end cinemas in Shanghai and Beijing were having on their profitability. After weighing all the factors, we finally made the decision to withdraw completely."

Boss Lu laughed and said, "It would be a crime not to eat this meat."

Gao Jun reported in detail: "Warner has sold seven cinemas in total, among which Yonghua Cinema in Shanghai has won the championship in mainland China for three consecutive years."

"But among these seven, Shanghai Film Group has Yonghua Cinema in Shanghai and Shanghai Film Warner in Nanjing. They are definitely not going to let go."

"We can take action against the remaining five theaters jointly operated by Warner and Shenzhen Guotou."

Boss Lu was a little itchy: "Boss, can you get it done with the Shanghai Film Group?"

"This is a very important matter. You know Ren Zhonglun, he's a top-notch worker."

"We have Golden Harvest's giant screen cinema, which is eyeing us covetously. There's no way they'll give up this piece of fat meat, no matter how big their face is."

"Okay, let's put this aside for now." The young director flipped through the documents and said, "I called you here today to make some adjustments to Wenjie Jiahe's expansion strategy."

"As everyone knows, we have basically completed the layout of ultra-high-end giant-screen theaters in first-tier and semi-first-tier cities."

"There are two in Peking, two in Shanghai, one each in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and there are also 13 hugely expensive giant screen cinemas in Jinling, Suzhou, Ningbo, Lin'an, Tianjin, Chengdu, and other places."

The three people who were writing the notes sat upright.

"Gao Jun, do you think this speed is fast or slow?"

Gao Jun smiled bitterly: "Boss Lu, apart from the Xi'an Cinema Line that we are about to acquire, we have really made every effort to advance these 13 cinemas."

Don’t be surprised that it took Golden Harvest two years to set up these 13 high-end cinemas in mainland China.

Considering the acquisition, operation and maintenance of Golden Harvest's heavy asset cinemas in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, especially considering the funding issue, this speed is not slow.

Is the world short of money? The answer is undoubtedly yes.

The overseas market is basically self-sufficient.

Domestic blog sites have been burning money all year round until they became the industry leader. When they were barely self-sufficient with the help of SP, Wenjie Video was established.

Copyright purchases plus operating expenses continue to burn.

Focus Media acquired Juzhong and unified the industry, but all the pledged equity funds from the listing were invested by Boss Lu in subprime mortgages by Paulson.

DJI is not profitable now, and Butian Film is self-sufficient.

In addition, there is Wenjie Mall, which has already obtained financing, which can be regarded as a relief in terms of cost-cutting.

However, the income from film and television investment and travel satellite TV can basically only support the market development of Golden Harvest at this speed.

Building a cinema is not like playing Monopoly where you roll the dice to buy land and build a house.

The construction of high-end cinemas is really a huge expense.

A simple calculation -

Among the cinema projects located in the above-mentioned first- and second-tier cities, most of them are self-purchased because they involve the introduction of world-class decoration and equipment, and also considering the future appreciation of land prices.

A standard cinema with 8 halls and 1200 seats generally has a construction area of ​​1000-1200 square meters.

The acquisition cost of commercial real estate in first-tier cities is 1.5-3 yuan/㎡, with an average of about 2500 million yuan;
The renovation cost of a single hall is 200 million to 300 million yuan, with an average of about 2000 million yuan;
The purchase of foreign first-line brand equipment, giant screens, seats, etc. costs about 2000 million per cinema;
The operating costs, including staff salaries, utilities, property management, marketing expenses, and product turnover, are around 200 million per year.
All in all, the average investment cost for building a store from scratch is nearly 7000 million yuan, and 13 stores cost nearly 10 billion yuan.

This also requires consideration of the coordination before and after land acquisition, public relations time, construction time, training time, etc.

The most important thing is that the total size of the domestic market is only about 30 billion, and these cinemas are real black holes!
Gao Jun expressed a little grievance, reflecting the difficulty of the work.

Dong Shuangqiang gave him a secret look, indicating that he should stop talking.

Lu Kuan's face turned pale. "My own achievements may seem encouraging, but I still need to focus on the entire industry."

He shook the information in his hand and said, "Let's take a look at the domestic cinema competitors."

"First up is China Film Star Media, with 82 cinemas, 550 screens, and an 18.6% market share. It relies on the distribution rights of China Film Group's imported films to monopolize core areas in first-tier cities."

"In second place is Shanghai Film Group, which has 65 cinemas, 278 screens and a market share of 15.3%. It has a dense presence in the Yangtze River Delta region and was the first to complete digital transformation, making it the closest to our cinema quality."

"In third place, New Film Association has 58 cinemas and 241 screens, with a market share of 12.8%, controlling more than 80% of Beijing's high-quality cinema resources."

"In fourth place, Wanda Cinema Line has only 15 theaters, all of which are self-owned properties, 120 screens, and a market share of 4.5%. However, their per-screen output is twice the industry average."

Boss Lu paused and said, "Fifth place is us."

"If we don't count the Xi'an Cinema Chain's resources, which haven't yet been finalized, we have 13 cinemas, fewer than 110 screens, and a 4% market share."

"I won't mention other cinema chains like Southern Shinkansen in the Pearl River Delta, Zhujiang Jinyi, and Pacific in Sichuan Province."

The atmosphere in the suite was oppressive.

"Everyone, compared to this data, do you still think we're moving fast?"

Everyone knows what he means.

Not to mention the number of cinema chains controlled by China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group, compared with its direct competitor Wanda, Wenjie’s disadvantage is undoubtedly huge!

Boss Lu warned, "Everyone should be clear about this now. What is Wanda's model?"

"They're swarming through first-, second-, and third-tier cities like locusts. Where there's a Wanda Plaza, there's a Wanda Cinema. Their cinemas are nested within commercial real estate."

"Let me ask you, if you were the local government, would you give the most prime land to Wanda or to Wenjie?"

"If we don't accelerate our efforts in second- and third-tier cities, once the locusts have passed, we won't be able to get our hands on the best business districts and locations."

Gao Jun sighed secretly in his heart.

The boss opens his mouth and his subordinates run around for him.

Frankly speaking, the expansion of Wenjie Jiahe is limited.

What limits? It was undoubtedly constrained by the overall funding flow of Wenjie Holdings. Boss Lu wanted too much and spread his wings too wide.

This is the advantage and also the disadvantage of the reborn.

But whether it is a future streaming video website, a self-sufficient special effects company, or a series of Internet flagship products, which one is not important?

Of course, as a subordinate, he would not say these words, and there was no need to say them. After all, cattle and horses are here to do things.

"Boss Lu, we're also aware of this problem internally."

Gao Jun decisively reflected: "In April this year, Wanda opened a five-star cinema on the top floor of the Walmart shopping center in Nanchang. It's only slightly worse than ours."

"I asked my friends there and learned that Nanchang's total box office last year was 600 million yuan, but by the end of the summer vacation, this five-star Wanda hotel had already taken in 900 million yuan in revenue."

In less than half a year, it exceeded the entire year of last year.

This is a reflection of the prosperity of the film market and the fact that Wanda's single-store revenue is the highest in the industry.

This is not an isolated case, but just a microcosm of Wanda in second- and third-tier cities.

In this life, Boss Lu may be an existence that the natives can hardly match in many fields.

But in terms of cinema investment, the industry regards Wanda as its rival, but Wanda has probably never even looked at this "little ant".

Since 2010, Wanda Cinemas has held the top market share in China for 14 years.

The boss of "Little Ant" said: "Everyone, Wenjie Holdings' current prosperity and prosperity is hard-won, but it also hides dangers."

"If we can't secure a certain market share in the cinema industry, we won't be able to grab the biggest piece of the pie in the future, when the film market is expected to reach 400 billion or 500 billion yuan."

Gao Jun, Dong Shuangqiang, Chen Zhixi and others nodded silently.

Although they may not have such high expectations for the market that Boss Lu mentioned, the importance of cinemas is unquestionable.

Didn’t you see that he “sold himself” to Jing Tian to be a teacher in order to obtain theater resources in Shanxi and Shaanxi?

Dong Shuangqiang suggested: "For second- and third-tier cities, if they want to speed up, in addition to direct acquisitions like Xi'an Cinema Line, I think franchising is also something they can consider."

"No, the franchise speed is fast, but the loyalty is too low."

Boss Lu refused: "The cinema is undoubtedly based on profit. If you join us today and then switch to another cinema chain tomorrow with better conditions, it's too unstable."

"Another thing is that if we ask about Golden Harvest's current management system and corporate culture, these older cinemas may not be able to accept it."

"By then, there will be a lot of issues with merchandise turnover, box office fraud, and membership management, which will be a real headache."

The young director set the tone: "Cinemas are also a service industry, and service is fundamental. Although land prices are still rising, I think they are far from high."

"We must insist on purchasing land and building our own cinemas. In special circumstances, we can buy one or two floors in a core business district and renovate them, just like Wanda did."

Seeing that morale was a little low, Boss Lu also gave some encouragement: "Let's overcome the difficulties now. Our financial situation will be better next year."

The three of them looked at each other, not knowing what this meant.

Will there be pie falling from the sky next year?
Really capable.

Next year, the first wave of CDS harvesting from the big short seller Paulson will begin.

Around the time of the 2008 earthquake and the Olympic Games, he was ready to reveal his identity, take back actual control of Blog.com, and plan for listing and financing.

This coveted commodity has been coveted by top domestic and foreign investment banks for a long time.

It’s just that I had asked Zhuang Xu to hold the shares on my behalf before, and the profit and loss were basically balanced, so I didn’t rush to move forward.

Times have changed. Now Boss Lu’s various forward-looking layouts at home and abroad are really crying out for nourishment and are in urgent need of this morsel of sweet dew.

The four also agreed on some expansion plans for second- and third-tier cities, such as reducing the cost of a single store to around 2000 million yuan and replicating them in various places.

After all, the thirteen top-level high-standard cinemas in the country have already had a demonstration effect. These provincial and sub-provincial cities can have a radiating effect on other prefecture-level cities and establish a high-end commercial image in the world.

It was almost nine o'clock in the evening and the three were preparing to say goodbye, but they didn't expect that the young director would shock people again.

"Huayi's 'The Banquet' is scheduled to be released around September 9th, and 'Alien Land 20' is scheduled to be released on National Day."

"Old Dong, Old Gao, I have a task for you."

The two looked up in confusion.

"I'll tell Han Shanping that the release date for 'Alien Land 2' will be temporarily moved up to the 25th, leaving 'The Banquet' no chance of survival!"

"Not only do we have thirteen top-tier cinemas, but we've also used your connections to reduce the screening schedule for 'The Banquet' to the lowest possible level!"

Before Gao Jun could come to his senses, Dong Shuangqiang said in surprise: "Boss Lu, this..."

Why do you want to kill again?

How had these two blind brothers offended him recently?
They heard it very clearly and it doesn't matter if the screening schedule is increased, after all, there is competition in the schedule.

But what does it mean to not give them a way out?
"Mr. Lu, is it because of Xu Zheng..." Dong Shuangqiang asked tentatively.

Boss Lu waved his hand and smiled, "That's not the case. It was me who suggested Xu Zheng go to Huayi."

"To put it simply, the quality of 'The Banquet' is subpar. I've seen it at Harvey's in North America, and 'Foreign Language 2' has no problem matching them."

"Let's move up the schedule and take on the traffic faster."

Gao Jun, Chen Zhixi, and Dong Shuangqiang looked at each other.

I believe you!
Boss Lu did lie, at least his real purpose was not like that.

His purpose cannot be told to anyone now, but if Concubine Liu Yi were here, she should be able to infer it.

This is a siege and attack on reinforcements!
There is no doubt that Lu Kuan attempted to gain control of Huayi through Xinlang, core artists and subsequent operations in the secondary market.

Then this Huayi must be more valuable.

How to be more valuable?
Surrounding it but not killing it puts it under tremendous pressure, which allows Ali and Wendy Deng to continue injecting funds and keeping it alive, helping Huayi become more competitive in artist training and theater development.

After all, they also want Huayi to be packaged beautifully and listed to make money for themselves, right?

To make an inappropriate analogy, Hua Yi today is like Linghu Chong who was imprisoned in Plum Villa in West Lake by Lu Kuan.

In "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", Linghu Chong was imprisoned here and learned the Star-Absorbing Art, which sucked the black and white seeds dry. After escaping, he also sucked Yue Buqun and others dry.

The current Huayi is the Linghu Chong that Boss Lu deliberately lets go.

He wanted to use Huayi to absorb as much vitality as possible from Ali and Deng Wendi. The more he absorbed, the more enjoyable it would be for him in the future!
Furthermore, if we can use this method to hold back Lao Ma's Ahri, it would be even better to give Wenjie Mall a chance to overtake, which would be killing two birds with one stone.

In fact, the idea of ​​suppressing "The Banquet" was just something he had just come up with on a whim.

Wanda is good at acquiring land, but Huayi, which has a strong background, is not much behind. After all, it is the advertising company that undertook the national ICBC standardization work.

The young director wanted to use the pressure of film scheduling to see if he could force them to develop in the theater chain. After all, Zhou Jun tried to snatch Golden Harvest from him a year ago.

Just imagine, Huayi absorbed the decades of experience of Ali, Wendy Deng and News Corporation, worked hard to open up a path for theaters, and finally achieved success and successfully went public.

When the two Wangs, Lao Ma, and Wendy Deng were celebrating, they were suddenly shocked to hear that Huayi had changed hands.

The child I raised for many years turned out to be my wife's son with someone else!
I love being a father!

He can easily obtain the theater resources developed by Huayi and continue to challenge Wanda.

This tactic is called "Fake Road to Attack Guo". On the surface, it suppresses Huayi, but in fact it is also consuming the opponent Ahri and the old enemy Deng Wendi, and then go back to attack Huayi.

This tactic is also known as borrowing a surrogate mother, using Huayi's red resources to acquire land, build a cinema, and then swallow it up and turn it into their own cinema;

This move is called removing the fuel from under the cauldron.

And his salary, from 2002 Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Zhang Jizhong, Xinlang;
And the "activists" Huang Xiaoming, Xu Zheng, and Zhang Guoli started...

The layout has already begun.

The future of Huayi is obviously about to become the Battle of Verdun on the battlefield of World War I, and become a meat grinder for various capital games and fights!

(End of this chapter)