Xingmei’s boss Qin has been very depressed these days.
As one of the founders of Heaven and Earth, he has plenty of connections and a lot of money on hand.
Entering the entertainment industry in 2001, Boss Qin ambitiously wanted to become China's entertainment tycoon. Now a few years later, although he has achieved some results, it is difficult to call him a success, especially compared to Cao Xuan's stars.
Every time there is a meeting of the film bureau or a gathering of senior executives in related industries, Boss Cao is the center of attention, and other senior executives have to accompany him.
We stood that year, and we had a smile at the party
At that time, Boss Qin burst into tears and vowed to replace him
Boss Qin was very unwilling to do so. In the past two years, he began to study the development route of Fanxing, preparing to imitate and surpass it.
In his opinion, a large part of Fanxing's success is due to Fanxing Cinemas. Boss Cao has shown his dominance in the entertainment industry and is carefully supported by major film producers. He also relies on Fanxing Cinemas in his hands.
And this is also Xingmei’s advantage.
[China Film and Star Cinemas] The theater chain jointly created by China Film Group and Star Cinema, currently ranks among the top five in the market.
Among them, China Film became the largest shareholder of China Film and Star America in 2007, achieving control, while Star America still maintains 40% of the shares and has considerable power.
Since the controlling stake of China Film and Xingmei is in the hands of China Film and Television, Xingmei opened an independent holding company [Xingmei International Cinema Co., Ltd.] in the past two years, preferring to invest in high-standard cinemas.
The size of the latter is definitely not far inferior to that of China Film Star Mei, but fortunately, Star Mei has full control over it.
We are both theater tycoons. Why is Boss Qin not tough in front of Cao Xuan? It's because of the beauty of the Chinese movie star. He doesn't care.
Boss Cao's word, Fanxing Cinemas said which movie to make next, even if it directly goes to war with others, Boss Cao will take care of it.
But Boss Qin is different. He can influence Chinese movie stars and even get a lot of resources, but he can't make the final decision on some key issues.
China Film's business is spread throughout the industry, and it has close cooperation with many companies in the industry. It has a transcendent status. It is impossible and will not allow its companies to become a knife in the hands of Xingmei.
Therefore, although Boss Qin is the boss of the theater chain, he can only use it for his own use. It is far from enough to use it as a strategic weapon like the stars.
But even if it can't compare to Fanxing, if it can have a greater bonus to one's own side, it will still be a very good advantage.
The film producers or distributors of various film and television companies are always indispensable for China Film, Shanghai Film, and even Stars.
It is because the film studio has to win over these theaters and everyone becomes "one of their own", so that the film will get enough film schedules when it is released, and will not be bullied by other films in the same period.
In fact, Star America can barely do this. Some movies that are intended to be released on China Film and Star America cannot be contacted by China Film and Television, and the same is true for cooperation with Star America.
With the exception of a few private film and television companies such as Fanxing, private film and television companies would drool with envy just for this kind of capital.
Huayi, Bona and other companies are squeezing money from their teeth and getting bank loans to build their own theater chains. Bende even wants to turn around and become a "master" one day.
However, as the theater chain market becomes more and more turbulent, the regulations above are extremely strict, and the investment is getting larger and larger. Without enough capital, ordinary companies cannot afford it.
As of the end of April 2009, the number of theaters in China was just over 1,300, with the number of screens approaching 5,000.
Among them, Wanda has developed rapidly this year. In just three months, it invested in the construction of double-digit theaters. Now it has a total of 50 theaters with more than 400 screens. It has surpassed the Chinese film star Meihe Xinyinglian and entered the forefront of the industry.
three.
Fanxing Cinemas currently has about 65 theaters and 500 screens. At the end of last year, it jointly competed with Magic City for the first place.
However, although Fanxing Cinemas is strong, its development is relatively stable, and at least for Wanda, it is a bit "slow".
If Wanda continues to develop according to the above trend, it will have hundreds of screens a year, or even more. I am afraid that within a year or two, both Stars and Magic City will be overtaken.
There is no way, the two sides have different development paths. Wanda Cinema relies on Wanda Plaza and has its own brand and traffic effect.
Fanxing Movie City is a simple theater with a single function. It needs to gradually become famous in the local area, and it takes an average of 1 to 2 years to get on track.
Even if no one goes to the cinema and the square is not cool, Wanda will not be able to compensate. If Star Cinema City fails to open up, then it will really lose.
Therefore, Fanxing must work steadily and strive to revitalize each new theater, but Wanda has no worries, attacking cities and towns in various ways, and then slowly adjusting and cleaning up afterward. If it doesn't work, it will close the local theaters and replace them with other shopping mall projects.
Under such circumstances, Wanda has a unique tendency. Unless Cao Xuan also builds a Starry Plaza, it will really not be able to beat it.
Of course, Fanxing is not without other preparations. Fanxing may consider entering some chain shopping malls in the future.
Especially in third- and fourth-tier cities, there is actually no need to hoard land to build cinemas independently. Renting may not be impossible. If the local market fails, the cost of canceling and leaving will not be that high.
At that time, Stars will be able to walk on two legs. The first and second tiers will build cinemas independently and continue to be boutique cinemas. The third and fourth tiers and even towns will cooperate with local or certain chain shopping malls.
There is no way, Wanda is too big, and the potential of theater chains to sink into the market cannot be ignored, Fanxing cannot give up.
However, in this case, the amount of investment is exaggerated, and it may not be possible to obtain a loan simply by using land as a mortgage.
Cao Xuan and some senior executives are also thinking that if that doesn't work, they will separate Fanxing Cinemas and then go public to raise money to expand the cinemas...
Back to Xingmei, although its advantages are the envy of many companies, Boss Qin was not satisfied, so he started to get involved in film and television.
Talented people are needed to engage in film and television. Boss Qin does not have Huayi's advantage in Beijing, nor is he like Cao Xuan, who has the "sightedness" of turning stones into gold.
So he used a clumsy way to find famous directors or artists to cooperate with, and at the same time moved closer to the Hong Kong scene.
Although under the pressure of Fanxing, Hong Kong capital is not as strong as in the original time and space, mainland artists have also begun to rise, especially the new generation, which is almost completely surpassed.
But also because of Fanxing's many films and the success of directors such as Xu Laoguai, Chen Kexin, and Lin Chaoxian, the director of Xiangjiang has received more attention than the original time and space.
Xu Laoguai and Lin Chaoxian were signed by Fanxing, while Chen Kexin became the favorite of Media Asia and Xingmei.
Boss Qin regards Chen Kexin as Xingmei's old monster Xu and old Mouzi, and the two have been hooking up since "If Love".
After "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff", Chen Kexin started filming "The Legend of Tou Ming", and Singmei was the main investor.
Li Lianjie's salary was 100 million yuan, Liu Tianwang was 16 million yuan, Jincheng Wu was 8 million yuan, Xu Cainv was 2 million yuan, and Chen Kexin himself received 10 million yuan in director's fee + company-related dividends.
Boss Qin agreed to all of them. Compared with him, Boss Cao was considered stingy.
"The Letter of Entitlement" has not yet been released, but Chen Kexin has started to toss in the new movie "Martial Arts", and Boss Qin still strongly supports it.
He made many investments without blinking an eye, bought dozens of straw hats worth thousands each, and he could endure it...
In addition to Chen Kexin, Boss Qin is also betting on discovering mainland directors.
After all, New Picture has Lao Mouzi, Fanxing supports Ning Hao and Feng Xiaoning, and Huayi supports Feng Xiaogang. In this way, they have the backbone and pillars of the company, and they can also be regarded as contributing to the mainland film industry and accumulating fame and prestige.
Therefore, Xingmei has been fawning over Director Chen. In addition to Chen's own company, Xingmei and Shanghai Film are the main investors in Chen's new film "The Orphan of Zhao".
However, after all, Director Chen has a good reputation and is good at real estate bonuses. Except for a few companies such as Fanxing, if he puts it out, everyone will invest their money.
Even in "The Orphan of Zhao", in order to attract Director Chen to come to Fanxing Film and Television City to film and build the reputation of Spring and Autumn and Warring States Film and Television City, Fanxing also invested some money and named it a joint production.
Director Chen also needed Star Cinema, so he put aside the grudges over "The Promise" and the two parties briefly reconciled.
Unable to monopolize director Chen, Xingmei set its sights on Lu Tailang, a famous sixth-generation director who is as famous as Ning Hao, and the two parties signed several film contracts.
In addition to the currently released "Jinling, Jinling", "The King's Feast" that Riku Taro is preparing for the follow-up is also invested by SMI.
If it can be said that Chen Kexin's "The Legend" and "Martial Arts" in the original time and space deceived Xing Mei, but the subsequent movies such as "Chinese Partner" and "Dear" also made Xing Mei regain a lot of blood, they are not completely deceived.
people.
So in these two movies of Lu Taro, Boss Qin is simply the wrongdoer...
"Jinling, Jinling" has an investment of 80 million yuan. Among them, the actors' remuneration is not high. The highest salary is only 1 million for Gao Yuanyuan, who is named the male lead. Liu Huohua, whose actual role is very small, only gets 800,000 yuan. The rest are for serving Taoism.
and scene.
Frankly speaking, even though it is not uncommon for large-scale productions in China to cost hundreds of millions, an investment of 80 million is still not a small amount.
Prior to this, Lu Tailang and Huayi had three film contracts, but because "Looking for the Gun" and "Kekexili" had average box office, Huayi felt that the film was not going to work, so he gave up the project.
The boss of Xingmeiqin decided to take a gamble on Lu Tailang and participated in the investment.
Frankly speaking, if the final box office of the movie "Original Time and Space" is 168 million, "Jinling, Jinling" will lose money, but it will not lose much.
The key can build up the company's name and enhance its soft power, in other words, it can increase the company's stock price.
The boss of Huayi's Wang family, Yuan Shikong, expressed regret. At that time, Huayi was preparing to go public. If there was such a movie with a box office of over 100 million, it would be very good for the stock.
However, things are different now. Being beaten by "Taken 2", it is difficult for "Jinling, Jinling" to break over 100 million at the box office.
According to the internal data of Fanxing Cinemas, "Jinling, Jinling" took 37.3% of the box office share.
The total box office of the original time and space was 168 million yuan, and the film studio was able to share more than 62 million yuan. Due to word-of-mouth and subject matter, other income was not much, but compared with the cost, it only lost 18 million yuan. Taking into account various soft power bonuses, it does not count
deficit.
Nowadays, it is difficult for a movie to break over 100 million yuan. The box office is only about 35 million yuan. The minimum gap is 40 million yuan. No matter how you convert it, you can’t say that you have not lost money...
Boss Qin's blood pressure has been high in the past two days.
Although he founded Xingmei, it does not belong to him alone, and a lot of the company's funds may not be in cash.
Most of the film and television company bosses are not even ranked in Forbes. How can they have so much money? Most of the funds are bank loans and various fundraisings. After making money, they pay it back, and they are just playing with nothing.
The entertainment industry is booming right now, and Huayi is even preparing to go public, so outside hot money is willing to invest.
However, you can't cheat the white wolf in vain. If you make money, you can just pay it back. If you lose money, you can't just say it.
Those investors who have no terms and conditions and everyone pays for it together are okay. Some loans have guaranteed terms, and some have to be repaid. Xingmei must give them an explanation.
More importantly, if this project loses money, it will cause panic among other Xingmei project investors. If they cause trouble, it will not be a trivial matter.
One thing is bad and everything is bad. The negative chain reaction caused by the box office failure of "Austin, Autumn", although it will not break Xingmei's muscles and bones, is enough to make Boss Qin worried about it for a while.
After making a few phone calls to appease the relevant investors, and making an appointment to go to Heaven and Earth to relax in the evening, Boss Qin took antihypertensive medicine and gently rubbed his temples.
Mingxingmei imitates Fanxing, establishes a stable presence in theaters, and invests in film and television. The path is similar, but the results are completely different.
Various projects of the surname Cao have become hits one after another, the company is booming, and film investors are investing money without even daring to ask for it.
As a result, when I got here, there was a lot of chaos, everything went wrong, and the year was unlucky.
Is it his own bad luck, or is this guy cheating?
Just as Boss Qin was thinking about finding a temple to worship, his secretary knocked on the door in a panic and came in.
"Mr. Qin, something happened!"
Boss Qin's right eyelid twitched and he suppressed his trembling voice: "What happened again?"
"Director Lu, Director Lu criticized "Hurricane Rescue 2" and Cao Xuan at the Nortel promotion conference, which has been trending on Weibo."
"I ****, who does he think he is?"
Boss Qin's temples were pounding and he couldn't help but curse.
He doesn't care about the reputation controversy of "Jinling, Jinling", and he accepts the loss of money, but that doesn't mean he wants to go to war with Fanxing. He and Xingmei can't beat each other.
Under the guidance of his secretary, Boss Qin logged into Weibo and quickly found the source, a video of a Nortel publicity symposium.
Lu Tailang is considered to be the most developed student in Nortel's directing department in recent years, and this time he was also invited to return to his alma mater to promote "Jinling, Jinling".
During this period, a certain amount of debate arose, with many Nortel students questioning Taro Lu about the plot of "Jinling, Jinling".
Riku Taro has a crooked butt, but he is able to make a name for himself because he has real skills. His sophistry and the different aesthetics of the movie really gained a lot of impression points.
But there are also many students who don't like that. Even if the reputation can be put aside, the box office data is clear. "Austin, Autumn" was rubbed on the ground by "Taken 2". This is always a fact.
In fact, this problem can be completely ignored by someone with high emotional intelligence.
First of all, movie quality is not the same as box office, and many high-reputation movies do not have much box office. Secondly, Cao Xuan is famous here, and there are many movies that he has rubbed against, so it is not shameful.
Strictly speaking, this was considered a forced provocation and would not cause any real harm to Riku Taro.
But I don’t know if the tone of the student who asked the question was too sarcastic. In addition, all the previous questions made Riku Taro angry. Riku Taro couldn’t help but break his guard.
First, he attacked the domestic film market for having too little ground for such serious historical themes, and then he insinuated the aesthetics of a wave of domestic audiences, feeling that the film was not popular because the vast majority of the audience only liked to watch actions and comedies that were, well, nutritious.
By the way, I also compared "Jinling, Jinling" with various classic war movies in Hollywood. The connotation is that the Chinese audience and market are not worthy of this movie.
In a word, it's not that my movies are bad, it's that the audience and the market are rubbish.
After scolding the audience and the market, Lu Tailang began to criticize the film schedule again, believing that the film schedule of "Jinling, Jinling" was too low because there was Cao Xuan's movie at the same time, and Fanxing deliberately suppressed him.
At the same time, he also said that Fanxing and Cao Xuan are the top players in the film industry, and no one dares to offend him.
When I was having dinner with boss Xing Meiqin, everyone was scolding Cao Xuan for being overbearing, but they didn't dare to speak out publicly. But I was different. I dared to tell the truth, and I was not afraid of Cao Xuan.
There is nothing extraordinary about Fanxing. All movies are trying to lick the audience, which is why they get high box office. They do not have the character and bottom line that filmmakers should have, and they spoil the audience.
Perhaps Cao Xuan is an outstanding businessman and actor, but from an artistic perspective, he is definitely a cancer in Chinese-language films...
After saying everything, Riku Taro angrily smashed the microphone and left with a wave of arrogance, like a warrior fighting for the truth.
After seeing everything, Boss Qin wanted to strangle him alive.
You are noble and great, but don’t hold me back!
Especially when he saw Lu Tailang using himself as an example, Boss Qin couldn't help but take another antihypertensive pill.
Yes, when everyone was eating, he would occasionally complain a bit, but it was really not an insult to Cao Xuan, but more of envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Fanxing is domineering, but in fact, strictly speaking, he has never done anything outrageous. Except for a few cases such as Cheng Tian, he has not bullied or bullied other companies. Everyone has exchanged interests and cooperated for a win-win situation.
Even if it is a project competition, there are almost no outside moves, it is a normal duel.
Of course, Fanxing has many resources and is confident, which will give it a great advantage in competition.
If this is unfair, Fanxing can't do anything about it. The shopping mall is like a battlefield, and Fanxing can't leave good resources unused. It has to weaken itself before competing.
No matter what industry you are in, the reality is that the jungle prevails over the strong, and it would be too naive to force fairness.
To be honest, compared with the leaders in other industries, who are subject to various monopolies, suppression, bullying and troublemaking, Fanxing is particularly kind and conscientious.
After calming down for a few minutes, Boss Qin picked up his cell phone and called Lu Tailang.
"Director Lu, do you know what you are doing?"
"Mr. Qin, don't worry, Cao Xuan is not that awesome. He doesn't have the ability to block the sky with one hand. If he has the ability, he will ban me."
Lu Tailang is very confident. He is not a wild boy. He comes from Nortel and is an authentic academic. His father is also a veteran in the circle, and he is half of the Beijing circle.
Thinking about it, it is understandable that without enough background and connections, Jiang Wen could be cast as the male lead when he debuted, and Mr. Han himself would come in as a guest star.
Although Fanxing is powerful, Lu Tailang does not believe that Cao Xuan can block him. Even if he can, it would be too overbearing. How will people in the circle view Cao Xuan in the future.
"..."
Boss Qin didn't talk nonsense and hung up directly. He was not in the mood to watch Director Lu continue to show off his IQ.
Indeed, it is impossible for Cao Xuan to ban Lu Tailang, but there are ways to deal with him behind the scenes. Killing with a soft knife is more painful.
Lu Tailang just thought that Cao Xuan was worried about his reputation and did not dare to kill everyone to prevent everyone in the circle from being in danger.
But I don't want to think about whether if Cao Xuan doesn't kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, anyone will dare to ride on Cao Xuan's neck and shit. For the majesty of Cao Xuan and Fanxing, he has to make a show of it.
Even if the target of an entertainment empire with a market capitalization of 100 billion is targeted, if it falls on Lu Tailang, who is not even a famous director, it will be enough to cause him to stumble.
"The company issued a statement to the outside world, saying that Lu Chuan's remarks have nothing to do with us. Star America respects the audience and fellow companies. At the same time, we told Vice President Wu that we will withdraw funding from the "King's Feast" project and let this guy play on his own."
The secretary left. Boss Qin thought for a while and made a phone call.
"Hey, Mr. Cao, it's me..."
…
United States, Los Angeles
Cao Xuan hung up the phone, and Hu Jing, who was eating salad, looked at him: "Xingmei's Mr. Tan?"
"Well, Lao Qin, please explain to me that this matter has nothing to do with him."
"Why are you so timid? I thought he would protect Hitaro."
Hu Jing heard about the plot of "Jinling, Jinling", coupled with this incident, had a very bad impression of this person, and followed Cao Xuan in calling him "Lu Tailang".
"Old Tan is not timid because there is no need. If Lu Tailang's movie makes Xingmei money, he dares to scold me along with him.
But Lu Tailang made him pay the money. Three consecutive movies had mediocre box office or even lost money, which shows that Lu Tailang is not a mature commercial director, so Lao Tan will never offend me for someone who has no use value."
Cao Xuan knew in his heart that these old guys were very smart and would attack when there was any advantage. If the momentum went wrong, they would immediately throw away the blame and get out of the way.
If Lu Tailang were replaced by Feng Xiaogang, who is currently in the ascendant, the Huayi Wang brothers would never abandon him so easily.
Of course, they are worried about Fanxing Cinemas, so they may not dare to attack Cao Xuan. They will only continue to treat him coldly and smooth things over, but they will definitely find ways to protect Feng Xiaogang.
To put it bluntly, Riku Taro is pretentious, but in fact, in the eyes of others, he is just a chess piece thrown away...
Thinking of this, Cao Xuan, who originally wanted to confront Lu Tailang, felt that doing so was too low.
But this does not mean that Cao Xuan let Lu Tailang go. After all, Boss Cao is famous for being "magnanimous". If he doesn't take action, he will feel blocked even when he sleeps at night.
Even though Mr. Han personally called to plead for mercy, Cao Xuan did not relent.
Mr. Han sighed and didn't say much. He and Lu Tailang actually had a good personal relationship. He was the one who supported "Looking for the Gun" in the first place.
But Lu Tailang was indeed unreasonable in this matter. He was comparing his feelings to his own. If someone else had quarreled China Film and Master Han for no reason, he would not have been indifferent.
In fact, it is not easy to target Lu Tailang.
This guy himself doesn't have much ability, he's just average, he has very few resources, and he only makes one movie every few years on average.
Moreover, "Autumn, Autumn" failed at the box office, and Xingmei took the lead in withdrawing investment, making his "The King's Feast" a hot potato. No one was willing to take over it in a short period of time. Cao Xuan couldn't find anyone to cause trouble even if he wanted to.
place.
After much thought, Cao Xuan found an idea.
Soon, a "neutral company" will fund and invite top domestic and foreign film critics, directors, screenwriters, major historians and professors, and even many foreign World War II experts to collect various materials from that year and interview the parties involved.
Let's hold a symposium based on "Jinling, Jinling" to analyze and discuss this movie from various angles such as film art, history, humanities, director's psychology, and national emotions.
At that time, it will be broadcast live on CCTV or local satellite TV, and Penguin and Fanxing Media will focus on publicity.
Didn’t Rikutaro think this movie was well made? It was full of humanistic color and depth of connotation.
Cao Xuan asked someone to peel off the hypocritical skin of this movie, let everyone see the true nature of this crooked ass, and nail him to the pillar of shame as a traitor.
Focusing on the cause is too conspicuous, and it makes people think that Boss Cao is bullying the weak. People will habitually sympathize with the weak, but it is different when holding a seminar. Everyone just analyzes the movie.
As for what the analysis revealed, maybe you can photograph it, but we can’t tell you?
When a director's reputation is ruined, his career is ruined. Even if it wasn't ruined, wouldn't there still be Boss Cao?
Dealing with an ordinary director is called bullying; dealing with a crooked director is called acting on behalf of heaven.
"Tsk tsk~"
After hearing Cao Xuan's plan, the Empress of the East Palace shook her head repeatedly and commented.
"You are too poisonous, but I like you."
After saying that, Hu Jing couldn't help but add: "It's best to coax Lu Tailang to the scene and debate on the spot. Depending on this guy's psychological quality, there will definitely be unexpected surprises."
"If you say I'm poisonous, you can't be more ruthless."
"If you are not a family, why don't you enter the same family?"
"..."
ps: The sun has not set this time, it must be afternoon...
