Chapter 856: Seizing the Young Master?
Meeting with netizens was a very fashionable term in 1997. It was an experience that only a few young people who had the conditions to surf the Internet could have.
Not to mention that Lin Weimin and Lei Jun are a well-known writer and the CEO of a well-known software company respectively. The two met online through a BBS forum and met offline. This is extremely topical news material no matter how you look at it.
The reporters' enthusiasm made Lin Weimin exhausted. After chatting for a while, he was too impatient to answer and pushed Lei Jun in front of the reporters.
The reporters were somewhat hesitant when facing a figure of Lin Weimin's caliber, but when it came to Lei Jun, they suddenly became energetic and threw questions one after another. Lei Jun stumbled in his Hubei-accented Mandarin to answer.
After nearly an hour of hard work, Lei Jun finally wiped the sweat from his forehead and sent the reporters away.
Seeing that it was almost noon, Lei Jun said, "Teacher Lin, let me treat you to a meal."
Lin Weimin readily agreed.
The Yanjing Home Computer and Software Exhibition was held at the China World Trade Center. In order to show his sincerity, Lei Jun specially chose the nearby China World Hotel as the venue for the banquet.
Just now at the exhibition, Lei Jun did not have a deep conversation with Lin Weimin. Now the environment in the restaurant was quiet and the two chatted while eating.
Through chatting with Lin Weimin, Lei Jun finally confirmed that the great writer in front of him was the great "Ye" on the Dawn BBS.
The meal was almost over. Having experienced a meeting with netizens in the 1990s, Lin Weimin was in a good mood.
Lei Jun invited him to visit the exhibition again in the afternoon, but he waved his hand and said, "I have to go to work in the afternoon, so I won't go shopping."
Lei Jun felt a little regretful. During their conversation, he could clearly feel Lin Weimin's profound insights into the Internet and computer software fields. It would have been better if they could chat for a while longer.
"Let's communicate online if you have anything to say." Lin Weimin said.
"good."
"By the way. The softwares of your company are pretty good, and our company happens to need them. You can ask your company's people to go to the company to coordinate them." Lin Weimin said to Lei Jun.
Lei Jun didn't expect that an online friend would bring an order to the company. The regret in his heart disappeared in an instant, and he said excitedly: "No problem, I will ask someone to go there tomorrow to count your company's needs. Thank you, Mr. Lin."
Lin Weimin nodded, and before leaving, he did not forget to tease Lei Jun, "Don't call me Teacher Lin, it's too formal, just call me Uncle."
Lei Jun smiled bitterly.
The two talked about their ages during the chat. Lin Weimin was born in 1960 and Lei Jun was born in 1969, only 9 years apart.
Moreover, Lin Weimin has a young face, and the two of them look almost the same age.
But in terms of temperament, Lei Jun really can't compare to Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin, 37 years old this year, is in the golden age of a man's life. He is strong, upright, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He has been in a high position for many years. His extraordinary demeanor is full of bookish air, which makes young men like Lei Jun, who are only 28 or 29 years old, jealous.
Looking at Lin Weimin's back as he left, Lei Jun smiled.
He thought again of the scene in which Lin Weimin asked him to call him "Uncle", and he unconsciously felt less admiring and more intimate.
After leaving the China Hotel, Lin Weimin drove back to the Guowen Publishing House.
"Yu Dong came to see you this morning." Zhao Xin reminded.
"What's up?"
"He didn't say anything. He just told me to let him know when you came back."
Lin Weimin guessed what Yu Dong was up to after a brief thought, "Let him come over."
"Okay." Zhao Xin replied.
About twenty minutes later, Yu Dongfeng walked into Lin Weiming's Literary Society in a hurry.
"Haha, President, great news!"
Before entering the door, Lin Weimin heard Yu Dong's hearty laughter.
Lin Weimin, who was reviewing documents, raised his head with a relaxed smile on his face and asked, "What is the box office of Hero?"
"You are so smart!" Yu Dong flattered him generously, and then said, "It just came out this morning. Guess how much the box office was in the first week?"
Normally, Yu Dong would never dare to ask his leader to guess a number, but this time it was different. The record set by "Hero" was so shocking that he had to surprise Lin Weimin.
"50 million?" Lin Weimin said casually.
Yu Dong's eyes widened. "Amazing! How did you know?"
Lin Weimin showed a look of confidence, "So my guess was pretty accurate?"
"About the same." Yu Dong smiled, "59.6 million!"
The smile on Lin Weimin's face disappeared, and his eyes were full of dissatisfaction. Are you making fun of me, kid?
Are 50 million and 59.6 million similar?
Yu Dong laughed guiltily: "Hey, it's 50 million each!"
Considering the record-breaking box office of "Hero", Lin Weimin was too lazy to scold him and his expression returned to normal.
Yu Dong continued, "This time our Hero has finally made a big splash. At this rate, a 200 million box office is not a problem. We may even be able to reach the 300 million mark."
"Don't be blindly optimistic. The lessons of the Opium War are still before us."
"I'm not blindly optimistic. Even if the box office drops next week, it will be no problem for "Hero" to sell 70 or 80 million. Have you forgotten what Tian Bu promised you?" Yu Dong blinked at Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin scolded him, "Look at your lack of ability! Do you expect to get 300 million box office by renting out the theater?"
After being scolded, Yu Dong felt a little depressed.
You are a leader, you are noble, you are great, so isn’t the box office revenue from a private screening money?
After being depressed, he approached Lin Weimin again and asked in a low and mysterious voice: "President, I heard that on the night of July 1st, the leader watched "Hero"?"
The leaders watched "Hero" using the copy produced by the Film Bureau without informing Wenhua Film and Television.
"Don't ask about these things."
Yu Dong didn't say anything else. Since the president didn't deny it, that was it.
"Where did you hear that?" Lin Weimin asked.
"It's all spread in the circle, everyone is saying that the senior leaders not only watched it, but also gave it a high evaluation. President, I estimate that this time we can earn at least 5,000 more box office just by booking the theater."
Lin Weimin was speechless. It is said that there is no impenetrable wall in Guowen Society. It seems that Haili is not that strong either.
"Don't just think about the domestic box office all the time, pay more attention to overseas releases as well."
Lin Weimin's words calmed down Yu Dong's pride and smugness. Indeed, compared with the domestic box office, the box office from overseas distribution and release is the bulk, but the prerequisite is that the distribution goes smoothly.
"Hero will be released in Hong Kong this week, and Ms. Xu has been busy with this matter recently. The situation in Taiwan is really bad this time, as our funds take up too much..."
Lin Weimin waved his hand and said, "It's just a small town. Don't spend too much time on them."
"Yes. After Hong Kong, the next country is the United States. Columbia Pictures is coordinating the release date. They want to give us the release date after mid-August."
Old Mi is the most realistic person. Although Columbia also invested in the movie "Hero", the share was too small after all, and it was not worth giving them a very good schedule.
After mid-August is the end of the summer season in the US film market. Audiences’ enthusiasm for watching movies is no longer as strong as at the beginning of the summer, but overall it is quite satisfactory and acceptable. Lin Weimin could not expect Columbia to treat "Hero" as its own son.
The performance of the film in the United States is a barometer of overseas distribution. If "Hero" can achieve good results in the United States, then there will not be too many obstacles for its release in many countries such as Europe, Asia, and America. However, for such a blockbuster that is determined to go global, overseas release will inevitably be a long and arduous process.
"I will fly to the United States next week to discuss the specific promotion and marketing strategies with Columbia and strive to achieve good results."
"You have worked hard during this period. After this period is over, I will celebrate with you!" said Lin Weimin.
"I'm going to have to take all those three knives and one axe!" Yu Dong said with a smile.
What Yu Dong calls "three knives and one axe" are actually the most expensive restaurants in Yanjing City. He uses the knife and the axe as metaphors. If you go there to eat, you will be ripped off and you will have to spend a lot of money. Every knife and axe is like cutting flesh on your body. Eating there is like cutting flesh on your body.
After chatting with Yu Dong in the office for more than half an hour, after he left, Lin Weimin told Zhao Xin about purchasing software from Kingsoft.
When Lin Weimin returned home from get off work in the evening, he was waiting for dinner. Qu Xiaowei drove his BMW and brought his wife and children to have a free meal.
As soon as they met, Qu Xiaowei shouted, "Weimin, hey, yesterday our family of three went to watch you filming the movie 'Hero'. It was really exciting!"
"Then why don't you book out the entire theater to contribute more to the box office!" Lin Weimin joked.
"You can only get a share of the money if I book the whole place. It would be very economical to use this money to treat you to a meal." Qu Xiaowei said shamelessly.
He said he was treating them but actually just wanted to eat for free. Lin Weimin was too lazy to pay attention to him and turned to ask Qu Xiangnan who was already in junior high school.
"Is it summer vacation?"
"Let him go."
"Have you attended the remedial class?" Lin Weimin continued to ask with a smile.
Qu Xiangnan felt frightened when he saw Uncle Lin's smiling face. The shadow left by his childhood was too deep.
"It's on, it's on." He said hurriedly.
Lin Weimin nodded with satisfaction, "It's good that he got in. Junior high school is very important."
Liu Haiyan rolled her eyes at him and said, "You should pay more attention to your daughter!"
"What's wrong with my daughter? She's so sensible!"
Lin Weimin followed Liu Haiyan's line of sight and saw Little Doubao hugging the trunk of the jujube tree in the yard and rubbing upwards like a caterpillar, and had already climbed nearly one meter high.
"Get down here!" Lin Weimin shouted.
Little Doubao was crawling very hard and ignored his father's calls.
Lin Weimin's shout did not stop his daughter, but called out Tao Huimin. When Tao Huimin saw her daughter making trouble again, she quickly walked up and picked the small bean bun from the tree.
Before Xiao Doubao could react, she had already stood still. Tao Huimin raised her knife and hit her daughter's little butt hard with a few blows.
The little girl wanted to struggle and run away, but unfortunately her little arms were not strong enough to twist her thighs, so she couldn't run away at all.
"I told you to be naughty! I told you to climb a tree!" Tao Huimin gritted her teeth and said, "Look at you, do you still look like a girl?"
After being spanked by his mother, the little boy shed tears in his eyes, but he did not cry or make a fuss. Instead, he said to Tao Huimin, "Mom, don't be angry. I will never climb trees again."
This trick really worked against Tao Huimin. She stopped her hands and said, "Can you believe what you say? Tell me, how many times has this happened?"
"Mom, believe me, I won't dare to do it again!"
Acting coquettishly and cutely has long become a necessary skill for Xiao Doubao to survive in this family.
"Humph!" Tao Huimin knew that the little girl was just perfunctory, but she couldn't help but pinch her chubby little face. "If I catch you climbing a tree again, I'll beat you even harder, understand?"
"I got it, Mom!" Little Bean Bun answered seriously.
"Go change your clothes. Look at you. You've ruined another piece of clothing."
"Mom, please help me change."
The mother and daughter went into the house to change clothes. Qu Xiaowei joked, "This little ancestor of yours is even more naughty than my son was when he was a child."
"The more naughty you are, the more successful you will be when you grow up."
Qu Xiaowei didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this. What a daughter slave!
By the time Tao Huimin and her daughter changed their clothes and came out of the room, the food was almost ready, so everyone sat at the table to eat.
"I think 'Hero' is so popular that it's a bit scary. The box office must be very high, right?" Qu Xiaowei asked Lin Weimin.
"The box office was 59.6 million in the first week," Lin Weimin said casually.
Qu Xiaowei's chopsticks, which were picking up food, stopped in mid-air, his face full of shock.
"Master Duo?"
Liu Haiyan was also extremely surprised and said: "Oh my god, almost 60 million in one week!"
After being shocked, Qu Xiaowei couldn't help but ask curiously, "60 million a week, that would be more than 200 million a month?"
"It depends on the box office performance in the second week. If it is healthy, 200 million won't be a problem."
After hearing his answer, Qu Xiaowei said, "That's conservative, absolutely conservative. I think 300 million is possible."
Lin Weimin looked at him and said, "No matter how high the box office is, it has nothing to do with you. What's the matter? Do you want to get into the film and television industry too?"
Qu Xiaowei smiled and said, "Why would I do film and television? That stuff requires too much investment, I can't handle it."
In the past few years, Qu Xiaowei has earned millions by running an Internet cafe, but he can only be considered a small boss in Yanjing City.
Lin Weimin heard his words but didn't take it seriously and was about to continue eating.
Unexpectedly, Qu Xiaowei said again: "Hey, Weimin, what do you say about me building a website?"
(End of this chapter)
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