In mid-November, Tang An invited Yu Dong, Pang Hong, Wang Changtian, and Singapore New Media Group Board Director and President Zhou Yongqiang to discuss the investment and distribution of "Painted Skin 2".
They had met once before and reached a preliminary verbal agreement. This time they came to sign the contract.
In addition to Bernard and Ningxia Film Studio, Tang An also roped in Guang Xian.
This is also because none of Guangxian's movies were released in July this year. Even in July and August throughout the summer, there was only one movie invested and released by Guangxian. "City Alert" directed by Chen Musheng and starring Aaron Kwok and Shu Qi is expected to be released in August.
Released monthly.
The same goes for Bernard, with "The King of Guns" in early July and "The Deserted Inn" in early August.
Most of the other summer movies were released by China Film, and some were released by Moying and Huayi.
With these two giants cooperating in publishing, "Tangshan Earthquake" can at least be faced with in the summer release.
Zhou Yongqiang is the president of Mediacorp. This time he came to the mainland to discuss cooperation with CCTV, and he happened to come to negotiate this project.
Last year, "Painted Skin" sold more than 4 million US dollars in Southeast Asia. The box office share alone was almost enough for them to recoup their capital, as well as income from video tapes and other copyrights.
Of course you won’t miss this year’s sequel.
We arrived at the hotel on time. Wang Changtian and Pang Hong had already arrived, and Yu Dong and Zhou Yongqiang arrived not long after.
As the initiator of the project and the largest investor, Tang An spoke first.
"Everyone, we have done calculations before the cost issue. The production cost is 55 million, the publicity cost is 25 million, and the total cost is 800 billion!"
"As we agreed before, I invested 30 million yuan, accounting for 50% of all profits."
Yu Dong said, "Bernard invested 15 million yuan, accounting for 25% of all profits!"
Pang Hong continued: "Our Ningxia Factory is a small business. Last year, we followed Mr. Tang and Yu Dong to get a share of the pie. This year, we invested another 9 million, accounting for 15% of the income."
Wang Changtian smiled and said, "Thank you so much for thinking of me for such a good project this time. I will contribute 6 million for the remaining 10%."
Zhou Yongqiang, President of Star Media, finally laughed and said, "Last year's "Painted Skin" sold well in Asia for more than 4 million US dollars. This year, we are willing to invest 20 million yuan in the Asian copyright of this second film!"
MediaCorp is the largest media group in Singapore and one of the top giants in Southeast Asia.
Indonesian media giants Archipelago Impression Media, Yuenan International Media and other media giants from various Southeast Asian countries are their partners, and their distribution capabilities are among the best in Southeast Asia.
The first part sold more than 4 million. Now that we have the foundation of the first part, the box office will definitely increase. 20 million is not expensive.
In 2000, it shared 25% of the cost, and the actual cost was only 60 million. Even if the box office was only as big as the first film, it would be enough to recoup the cost.
Next, a contract was signed, and the specific details had been discussed. This time, it was jointly issued by Bernard and Guangxian. The total issuance fee was 10%, half of which was divided by both parties.
In fact, judging from the 200 million box office of the first part, this second part is fully qualified to pay only 8% distribution fee.
However, Feng Xiaogang's "Tangshan Earthquake" has been confirmed to be released in the summer next year. In terms of distribution, Bernard and Guangxian need their best support. The fee is set at 10%, and Pang Hong also agreed.
After the business talk, it was time to eat and drink. Tang An immediately asked the hotel to bring the food and set a full table.
Tang An poured himself a glass, raised his glass and smiled at everyone, "I would like to toast you all for this cooperation. I also hope that "Painted Skin 2" will be a big hit at the box office next year!"
"Come and do it."
"cheers."
Chinese people can never just eat at the dinner table. Before taking two bites, they start drinking, and while drinking, they talk about work.
Wang Changtian clinked the cup with Tang An and asked with a smile, "Why did Mr. Tang think of looking for me when something good happened this time?"
Tang An drank the wine in one gulp and laughed, "If you have money, let's make money together. If Director Wang has any good projects in the future, don't forget me!"
"Then why doesn't Mr. Tang look for Mr. Wang?"
There is no pie in the sky. Tang An is currently the artistic director of Huayi, so there is no reason for him to come to Guangxian for cooperation.
"There will be director Feng's "Tangshan Earthquake" next summer. It's impossible for Huayi to release two blockbusters at the same time."
"Then when Mr. Tang and Mr. Wang are fighting in the ring, aren't you afraid that Mr. Wang will be unhappy?" Wang Changtian asked curiously.
Tang An sighed, "There's nothing we can do about it. We can't squeeze in the Lunar New Year slot. The market for the National Day slot is too small after all, not to mention that it may not be released at the same time, but we can discuss the specific time later."
Wang Changtian didn't ask any more questions, he just didn't want to eat a piece of cake in such a daze.
Next to him, Yu Dong was also a little confused, but he didn't think much about it.
Tang An looked at Zhou Yongqiang again and had a drink with him, "Mr. Zhou, I need more help from you for next year's publicity."
Zhou Yongqiang smiled and said, "It's easy to say, I will arrange it when the time comes. Don't worry, Mr. Tang."
He naturally knew what Tang An meant. In the past two years, New Media acquired 27% of the shares of Dahe Media, one of the largest advertising companies in the country, and became the second largest shareholder of Dahe Media.
...
After the dinner, Tang An immediately asked Xu Manyun to take the contract to the bank to apply for a loan, so there was no need to use the cash on the studio's books.
In the next few days, Poly Huayi's disintegration was in sight, but for such a large company with declining performance, no one would take over.
A week later, Tang An took Xu Manyun to Poly Group to discuss the acquisition.
For a mere director to acquire a large media group, it was simply a fantasy to the person in charge of the acquisition team of Poly Group.
If it weren't for the great director Tang An's name, I probably wouldn't have met him in person.
In the end, it was Tang An who proved his financial ability and the other party was willing to sit down and talk.
In less than half a month, four negotiations were held. During this period, news came out from the outside world, but no one took it seriously.
It is more reliable to say that Zhang Yimou acquired New Picture.
However, interested people were already investigating Tang An, and when they learned that all of his remaining 160 houses had been mortgaged with large amounts of cash in the past few days, they discovered that something was wrong.
At the end of November, Tang An came to Poly Group for the fourth time, accompanied by the largest team of lawyers specializing in mergers and acquisitions in China, including nearly 20 people including accountants!
After a series of tedious procedures, Tang An finally acquired Poly Culture Media, Oriental Dragon Film Company and many other companies with 280 million in cash.
It is 70 million less than the valuation of 350 million, but Poly has spun off its Poly Theater Management Co., Ltd., Poly International Auction Company, Shenzhen Poly Art Plaza Co., Ltd. and other companies.
In addition, Tang An also reached a cooperation with Poly and invested 60 million yuan in Poly Wanhe Cinema Line, accounting for 10% of the shares, becoming one of the shareholders of this top ten domestic cinema chain.
The chairman of Poly Group signed several documents and shook hands with Tang An, "Congratulations, Chairman Tang. From now on, Poly culture will be yours!"
"Thank you very much, Mr. He, but it's not Poly Culture, it's Hantang Media Group!"
"...That's right, Hantang Media Group, remember to let me know when you will hold a press conference."
"I'm sure, and I'd like to thank Mr. He for your honor!"
After leaving the Poly Group and looking at the sky that was not too blue, Tang An let out a long sigh of relief.
It has been 5 years, but my life is still no different from that of an ordinary director. I don’t even have an assistant team. I pretend to have no ambition and just take things as they come.
However, now that film and television production, distribution, publicity, advertising, and theaters are all available, the sky is high and the birds can fly!
But there are still a lot of things to do behind the scenes. The new company's personnel and business must be readjusted.
Fortunately, Poly has already helped to separate the Poly culture, otherwise it would have taken a lot of effort.
The entertainment industry has been very noisy during this time. I don’t know how many calls come in every day, and my mailbox is almost full.
As soon as he left the Poly Building, dozens of reporters who had been waiting for a long time were already surrounding him.
However, Tang An was not in the mood to be interviewed at this time, so he got into the car under the protection of more than a dozen security guards from Poly.