Johnson glared at Daniel Lewis, and then said to Wu Jianye somewhat helplessly: "I'm going back to my place!"
Wu Jianye said dissatisfiedly: "No, I don't know anyone here. You finally came over, so just sit here!"
Johnson glanced at Daniel Lewis next to him and asked: "Didn't he invite you over?"
Wu Jianye said: "He is not strong enough. If he wants to change positions, I guess they won't let him."
Daniel Lewis: “…”
At this time, Daniel Lewis became more and more surprised, because he found that Johnson was actually a little resistant to Wu Jianye, like, I don't like you but I can't kill you.
This made Daniel Lewis begin to wonder if Wu Jianye had any hidden attributes, but after thinking about it for a long time, from the information he knew, it seemed that Wu Jianye didn't have any trump cards?
As for Wu Jianye saying that he was not strong enough, he looked at the big boss who was walking towards him and stopped talking. He was a long-established aristocrat in England, and even now he still wears the title of aristocrat on his head.
David Wallop came over wearing a handmade suit and black-rimmed glasses. Johnson wanted to leave, but Wu Jianye grabbed him by the corner of his clothes.
"What do you want to do?" Johnson was almost crying. If he had known that Wu Jianye was here, he would not have come at all.
"Stay with me!" Wu Jianye said.
Johnson: "I have my place."
David Wallop had already walked over at this time, with an elegant smile on his face, and saw Wu Jianye and Johnson talking.
"Johnson, Director Wu, it's nice to meet you two."
"Hello Mr. Wallop, I'll be back at my seat right away," Johnson said.
"No, if you two know each other, I can tell you where you are." David Wallop smiled with no trace of displeasure on his face.
"No, no, I'll leave right away!" After Johnson said that, he broke away from Wu Jianye's hand and left.
Wu Jianye smiled and said: "Okay then, Mr. Wallop, I just have some questions about antiques that I want to communicate with you."
David Wallop: "What an honor!"
Johnson's face changed and he showed a painful expression: "Mr. Wallop, I'm very sorry. Director Wu and I are very good friends. Can you give me your position?"
David Wallop said nonchalantly: "Of course!"
After David Wallop left, Johnson looked at Wu Jianye fiercely: "Did you just plan to tell him what happened before?"
Wu Jianye smiled and said: "You take care of me!"
Johnson said: "I can tell you, that matter is your problem. If I had told the embassy about it, do you know what the consequences would be for you?"
Wu Jianye said nonchalantly: "For two thousand dollars, let the whole world know that Philly Johnson of the Johnson family bought a chamber pot in China. I don't think you are so stupid!"
Johnson looked at Wu Jianye angrily: "You still talk about this!"
"You said it first!" Wu Jianye said.
While the two were chatting, the auction had already started. Daniel Lewis and Isabel Adjani also sat back in their seats, but Daniel Lewis still looked in the direction of Wu Jianye and Johnson from time to time. He really didn't understand Wu Jian.
What is the relationship between Ye and Johnson?
After the auction begins, the auctioneer begins to introduce the products being auctioned. After the introduction, you can hear the collectors in the audience raising placards and shouting prices.
However, neither Wu Jianye nor Johnson's attention was focused on this at this time.
"Tell me, why did you keep me here?" Johnson also guessed at this time that Wu Jianye could not have left him behind for no reason.
Wu Jianye smiled, isn't Johnson stupid? When he saw Johnson, he thought that he would go to the United States to shoot his first movie in Hollywood in the second half of this year, and Johnson now happened to be in charge of an important theater chain in North America.
.
"I know you are now in charge of your family's Oceanwide Cinemas chain. Are you interested in expanding your business?" Wu Jianye asked.
Why has Phantom Entertainment never been able to become one of the true Hollywood Seven, even though it is infinitely close? First, because their global distribution network is not perfect, and second, there is no real theater chain interest alliance in North America!
Moreover, with the relaxation of North American policy supervision, several major studios have begun to re-enter the theater chain and horizontally integrate to create media groups. During this period, film companies have begun to re-enter the theater chain. Columbia, Universal, Paramount, and Warner have all successively
Purchased some theater lines in the United States, occupying approximately 16% of the approximately 22,000 screens in the United States.
However, at this time, theater chains did not return to the vertical integration model of the big studio era, but began horizontal integration based on the emergence of new communication methods to create media groups.
The first thing that started was the horizontal integration of film companies and television companies. In 1980, several large film companies had been acquired by large communication companies and integrated into their diversified entertainment landscape.
This year Sony will buy Columbia Pictures, and then Warner Communications and Time Inc. will merge to form Time Warner. In 1995, Disney will buy ABC Television Network, etc. After a series of internal integrations in the industry, and the rise of new competitors.
In the later years, Hollywood's major studios were mostly represented as media groups, and the number of films produced each year accounted for approximately 60-70% of the total number of American films.
This is the best time to lay out theater chains in North America in advance. For example, Royal Entertainment Group, the largest theater chain company in the United States, was officially established this year.
Originally, Wu Jianye wanted to do this after arriving in North America, but now that he has seen Johnson, he can plan ahead if possible.
It's a pity that Johnson has already been strongly wary of Wu Jianye: "Don't come here, even if it's expansion, I won't look for you!"
Wu Jianye: "..."
"Aren't we friends? You see, I invest money for you and you give me shares. This can help you quickly expand your theater business and increase your status in the family. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"
Johnson shook his head and said firmly: "It looks beautiful, but I remember when you sold me the chamber pot, you said it even better than now!"
Wu Jianye: "...How about I pay you back the money you paid for selling the chamber pot?"
Johnson: "..."
While the two were chatting, the auction finally came to the Ming Dynasty gilt bronze seated Buddha statue. The auctioneer on the stage introduced the history of this Buddha statue, and then announced the starting price.
$300,000!
Isabel Adjani glanced at the positions of Wu Jianye and Johnson and reminded: "Otherwise we won't take pictures of this collection!"
In fact, Daniel Lewis was ready to give up, but now that he heard Isabel Adjani say this, he felt that he was being looked down upon.
"It's okay. Although Johnson is the general manager of Oceanwide Cinemas, I don't need to be too afraid of him."
After speaking, Daniel Lewis directly raised his sign: "350,000!"
Originally, he wanted to fight Daniel Lewis, but at this time, Wu Jianye had a more important thing, which was to convince Johnson, so he no longer wanted to fight Daniel Lewis.
He directly raised his sign: "1 million!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the room was shocked. No one expected that a little-known Asian would directly increase the bid by US$650,000 to US$1 million. Shouldn't the auction increase slowly?
?
Some people who didn't know Wu Jianye's identity immediately thought that Wu Jianye was from Japan. After all, the Japanese people had not yet burst into the economic bubble at this time and were clamoring to buy the entire United States. So now it seems that this Asian should be
rb people.
But those who knew Wu Jianye’s identity had to wonder, is this Chinese crazy?
Even Daniel Lewis showed a surprised expression. He didn't expect that Wu Jianye could directly shout one million!
However, he was relieved when he thought that Wu Jianye's album, which was a global sensation, had brought Wu Jianye at least tens of millions of dollars in income.
"1.05 million!"
One to two million Daniel Lewis is still acceptable. After all, he has already made it clear in front of Isabel Adjani that he will make Wu Jianye look bad.
Wu Jianye looked at Daniel Lewis with some boredom and refused to let anyone speak properly: "Two million!"
Johnson looked at Wu Jianye in shock: "Are you crazy? The market price of this collection is only about one million. Now you spend two million to buy it?"
Wu Jianye smiled and said: "Isn't this to show you my strength? Look, I have spare money in my hand. You have the theater chain I want. I will invest in you and you will expand the theater chain. I believe it will not take a few years.
, we can become the largest theater chain company in the United States!"
Johnson shook his head: "Are you crazy? Do you know how much capital is needed to become the largest theater chain company in the United States? It must be at least US$1.5 billion!"
In fact, Johnson didn't know that at this time, he was no longer as resistant to Wu Jianye as before.
Wu Jianye said: "What I'm worried about is not money, but how many shares of the theater chain company you can sell to me!"
Johnson stopped talking. Wu Jianye now felt like he was crazy. It wasn't a matter of money. Was he rich?
Even though Johnson and Linda had a very good relationship, Linda never revealed to Johnson that the real boss of Phantom Entertainment was Wu Jianye. This had nothing to do with friendship.
Wu Jianye did not rush Johnson. In his opinion, as long as Johnson was left with such a seed today, the rest of the matter could be discussed slowly.
After all, Johnson also had to report this matter to his family.
Daniel Lewis didn't know what to say at this time. He could also spend two million US dollars. His net worth far exceeded two million US dollars, but for a collection that he knew was a loss,
He thinks he is not crazy yet...
Therefore, in the end, although this Ming Dynasty gilt bronze seated Buddha statue was only bid a few times, it has already set the highest transaction price and the largest range of bids in this auction.
Other collectors didn't even have a chance to bid...
The moment he watched the auctioneer drop the hammer, Wu Jianye felt the gaze of Daniel Lewis. He looked over, raised his shoulders, curled his lips, and made a disdainful expression.
Daniel Lewis is furious, but there is nothing he can do...
Then there were the auctions of several collections, but with Wu Jianye's previous bid for a Ming Dynasty gilt bronze Buddha statue, the bidding for these collections felt a bit boring.
Then the snake-shaped engagement ring inlaid with emeralds was put up for auction, with a starting price of 2 million!
To be honest, the value of the ring itself is definitely not that high, but its historical significance gives it a different value.
As long as antiques are tainted with the word "royal", whether they are Chinese or foreign, their value will definitely double.
This discouraged many people, but David Wallop showed a strong interest in this ring.
"2.1 million!"
"2.2 million!"
"2.3 million!"
Bidding calls came one after another, and soon the ring was priced at 3.5 million, but this did not stop the interest of these collectors.
"4000000!"
David Wallop suddenly asked for a high price of 4 million.
At this time, many people had already withdrawn from the bidding. After all, no one's money comes from the strong wind.
Wu Jianye thought that he was going to Los Angeles in the second half of the year, and Li Xiuming would still be there at that time. If he couldn't give Li Xiuming a status, then he would give more gifts. An engagement ring from the former Queen of England would be a good idea.
So he raised his own sign: "4.1 million!"
When people in the auction hall saw Wu Jianye raising his placard again, they all showed surprised expressions. Wu Jianye's performance just now was so amazing.
Even David Wallop, who had always been calm and composed, showed a wry smile. This wry smile did not mean that he knew Wu Jianye's real net worth, but because Wu Jianye's performance just now gave him a powerful
Psychological suggestion.
"4.2 million!"
"4.3 million!" Wu Jianye said, holding up a sign.
"4.4 million!" David Wallop raised his sign and looked at Wu Jianye with a smile.
Johnson said from the side: "That's alright. This ring has special meaning to their family. There is no need to fight with him."
Wu Jianye said calmly: "Okay!"
Then he gave David Wallop a smile and shook his head slightly, indicating that he would not hold up the sign again!
David Wallop returned Wu Jianye's smile.
Seeing all this, Daniel Lewis became increasingly dissatisfied: "Pretentious!"
In his opinion, Wu Jianye had gone to the limit by taking pictures of the Ming Dynasty gilt-bronze seated Buddha statue. What he was doing now was just to establish a relationship with David Wallop.
Isabelle Adjani was holding Daniel Lewis's shoulders and comforting her lover.
The ring was eventually photographed by David Wallop.
Until the end, the most precious lot in this auction, Van Gogh's "Irises", appeared!