258 This is not a game, it is a money printing machine
"The List of Fengshen" is not Cao Xuan's imagination.
Fanxing wants to become a large-scale film and television company that shakes up the industry. It cannot get ahead by relying solely on small productions worth 18 million yuan. Large productions are the projects that determine its status in the industry.
As for movies, the market hasn't picked up yet, so you're more likely to lose money than make money on your investment, and it's too involved, so Fanxing may not be able to take advantage of it.
But TV dramas can still be reckless.
The major TV drama productions in recent years are basically martial arts dramas + historical dramas. In addition, there are also CCTV's four famous works and related themes.
"The Legend of the Gods" was filmed in the Mainland in the 1990s but was banned. It was also filmed in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was heavily modified and could even be said to be a semi-original mythological drama.
It wasn't until "Feng Shen Bang: Feng Ming Qishan" from 2005 to 2006 that it was somewhat of the essence of the original "Feng Shen Bang".
From the perspective of IP popularity, the popularity of "The Romance of the Gods" is not inferior to that of the four major classics. Jiang Ziya, Nezha, and Yang Jian are all familiar characters to the public.
If it can be promoted smoothly, with enough investment, it will not be comparable to the previous "Water Margin", but it can be close.
But the key difficulty lies in the special effects. "The Legend of the Gods" is a special effects drama, not to mention realistic, but at least the special effects must be present.
This technology is really hard to come by in mainland China right now. If you have to do it in Hong Kong, Taiwan or Japan and South Korea, you don’t even have to think about it in Hollywood. It’s too expensive.
Calculated based on ordinary special effects prices, the minimum cost of a TV series must be more than 20 million. If the quality is better, it may be more than 50 million.
The length of "The Legend of the Gods" is quite long. Even if it is compact, it would take more than 50 episodes. In addition to the scenery, costumes, actors' remuneration and other aspects, if you want to make a good film, you can't make do with it.
Adding up the bits and pieces, it is possible to invest over 100 million...
Whether Cao Xuan can eat such a drama is one thing, but how to sell it is the key.
To be honest, according to the normal TV drama distribution model, it would be difficult for "The Legend of the Gods" to even make a profit, let alone make a profit.
Cao Xuan thought about it for a while. If this drama wants to make money, there is only one possibility.
Invite CCTV into the game and sell ads!
Cao Xuan didn't know how much the advertising fee for "Water Margin" was, but it was definitely an unimaginable sky-high price in 1998.
If we cooperate with CCTV to develop "Feng Shen Bang", increase the popularity, attract advertisers, and operate the advertising fees and various copyrights of this drama through CCTV channels, the cost of over 100 million can definitely be easily earned back.
This is the only way Cao Xuan can think of to make "Feng Shen Bang" profitable.
At this stage, only the size of CCTV can support the commercial realization of this drama.
Of course, it is possible to join forces with several popular satellite TV stations such as Beijing TV, Lu TV, Modu TV, and Xiangnan TV, but when there are more people, the sound will be chaotic, and this project will not be able to be filmed realistically.
In contrast, although CCTV is overbearing, its production pursuits are still relatively consistent with Cao Xuan's.
Cao Xuan found someone to prepare a project document and went to chat with a familiar leader from CCTV. When the other party saw that the investment had a high chance of exceeding 100 million, he waved his hand.
Just kidding, there are only a few TV series that CCTV has invested over 100 million yuan in, and most of the money was used to build film and television bases.
For example, "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" is said to have an investment of nearly 300 million, but in fact, it cost almost half just to build the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom film and television base. It used tens of thousands of group performances and took several years. The actual production cost here is only a few dollars.
Ten million.
Just like this, "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" was broadcast once and then disappeared without a trace. It can be said to be CCTV's most painful investment.
Less than two years have passed since the lessons of "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" were learned. Now that Cao Xuan has invested more than 100 million in a project, CCTV leaders almost instinctively reject it.
If you can't afford it, find another place!
It would be great if he could find another company. Cao Xuan was not discouraged and dragged the leaders of CCTV to come and talk about it.
Although the investment for this drama is high, Fanxing promises to bear half, or even more than half, and will invite some popular stars accordingly.
For example, all Stars artists, including Cao Xuan, will star in the show. Hong Kong and Taiwan-related artists can also be invited. Fanxing will formulate a series of publicity plans to increase the popularity of the TV series and prepare to attract advertisers.
Fanxing will help bear the risks. CCTV only needs to use its platform and channel advantages to attract advertisers.
I dare not say that the profit will be guaranteed, but even if this project fails, CCTV will only suffer a small loss and the bulk will be borne by Fanxing.
To put it bluntly, if you make a profit, it will be mainly Cao Xuan’s fault...
Now CCTV is a little tempted.
But things are not that simple. On the one hand, the investment is indeed not small. On the other hand, CCTV has never done this with other private companies. Whether it is in compliance with the rules still needs to be discussed.
Advertising space is CCTV’s trump card and it will not be changed easily.
But since you are hesitating, there is room for discussion, which is at least more promising than flatly refusing.
After all, "The Legend of the Gods" covers a wide range of topics, and Cao Xuan did not expect to start filming immediately. He expected that the project would be officially launched in 2003-2004.
By then Fanxing will be more confident, more famous, and able to engage in commercial operations to a greater extent, and the special effects technology will become more mature accordingly.
But the corresponding investment may be higher, and of course, advertising fees will definitely increase accordingly.
But even so, some leaders of CCTV are still curious about how Cao Xuan has the confidence to support such a large project. See what he means, even if he can film Stars independently.
This is hundreds of millions. Is singing so profitable now?
Cao Xuan didn't know what the leaders of CCTV were thinking, otherwise they would definitely tell him that singing is certainly not so profitable, but the same cannot be said for gaming.
After two months of public beta testing, "Legend of Hot Blood" officially started charging at the end of November, and then money flowed into Cao Xuan's pocket.
By the end of 2001, the average number of online users of "Legend of Blood" was approaching one million.
It is one of the most popular online games nowadays, and you can even remove that one.
If you just find an Internet cafe, I can't say that 100% of them are "Legend of Legend" players, but at least 50% to 70% will shout "PK", "Warrior", "Mage", "Kill the Chicken" and the like.
It is no exaggeration to say that the daily turnover of "Legend of Hot Blood" now averages over 500,000.
Remember, it’s 500,000 per day!
And this is just the beginning. As "Legend of Hot Blood" becomes more and more popular, the revenue will rise crazily.
When the original "Legend of Blood" was at its peak, Shanda was making hundreds of millions every month, and that was only in 2002-2003.
This is not a game, it is simply a money printing machine...
Therefore, with an investment of over 100 million in "Feng Shen Bang", for the current Cao Xuan, triviality may be too crazy, so it should be considered moderate.
If it were not for the profit, Cao Xuan could afford to spend 200 million!
To be honest, the craziness of "Legend of Hot Blood" almost made Cao Xuan want to lie down.
There is no way, Fanxing works hard and only earns tens of millions a year. Compared with the money-grabbing style of making money in "Legend of Blood", it really hurts his career ambitions.
However, Cao Xuan soon gave up this idea.
"Legend of Hot Blood" is crazy, but it is destined not to last long.
Even though Cao Xuan had already sent people to South Korea before, before the other side could react, he acquired Yumeide, the parent company of "Legend of Hot Blood", and the parent company behind it, Atos.
But he knew that it would be difficult to fully acquire these two companies. He did not rush to acquire these two companies, but wanted to hold a certain equity stake.
In the original time and space, after "Legend of Hot Blood" became popular, Shanda and these two companies fought countless copyright lawsuits like a dog-skin plaster. The three companies jumped around and started to argue wildly.
Even though Cao Xuan originally let Box Games obtain the copyright to "Legend of Blood", which not only extended the deadline but also plugged some loopholes, Cao Xuan still did not believe in the integrity of these two Korean companies.
To put it bluntly, most people simply can't bear it when a transaction involving billions of dollars is involved. There is no perfect contract in the world. As long as you find loopholes, you will definitely find trouble.
Therefore, Cao Xuan's purpose in acquiring the shares of the two companies was simple: to go straight into the enemy's camp, and then cause trouble for him from within and delay time.
At that time, there were Shanda and Box Games outside, and there were people holding back internally, so they could gain a lot of leeway.
In addition, Cao Xuan was also on guard against Shanda. If Shanda dared to play any tricks, Box Games would join forces with the two companies to kick Chen Tianqiao out.
Cao Xuan doesn't care whether he goes to court or not. He just wants to make money from "Legend of Hot Blood", and he does all this to gain the initiative.
When the time comes, Cao Xuan feels that it is almost done, and he will choose to change hands on "Legend of Blood" and the equity of the two companies.
Regardless of whether it is Shanda or another company, he will give it to whoever pays more and then cash out.
At that time, whatever the successor can do, Cao Xuan and Box Games will just stop and run other games.
This kind of purely commercial operation can make a lot of money, but it is short-lived, while Fanxing is a real long-term business. The profit may be low now, but it is stable enough.
And when the market prospers in the later period, the profit will not be any worse than that of "Legend of Blood", and you can continue to make money.
Cao Xuan thought about the future when a TV series would cost billions and a movie would cost billions. He temporarily forgot about the impact of "Legend of Blood" and continued to invest in the construction of Fanxing.
The massive blood transfusions in "Legend of Hot Blood" will give Cao Xuan unparalleled cash reserves for the next 2 to 3 years.
Cao Xuan felt that the film and television base and theater chain plans that he had been considering before could enter the preparation and implementation stage.
This time, "The Legend of the Gods" also reminded Cao Xuan that he can acquire and train his own special effects team.
This is probably a thankless task, but if it is done, others will not pinch the lifeblood. Based on this, Cao Xuan feels that he must support himself even if he burns money.
And although the special effects team will definitely lose money in the early stage, with the rise of the domestic film and television market in the future, the overall industry prospects are still very promising.
Some things must be done by someone. Cao Xuan has the ability and capital, so he can't care too much about gains and losses.
In the past, with insufficient capital, Cao Xuan could only follow the general trend. Now that he has become a wave, he should try to stir up some troubles, so as not to be in vain...
