Chapter 200 Industry Earthquake! Mission Completed!
Looking at Chen Sicheng in front of him, Lin Xiao felt a little confused.
There is no doubt that this person has a certain charisma and considerable talent, but it always feels like something is missing.
Lin Xiao has seen almost all of his works, even "Beijing Love Story".
Not to mention the Detective Chinatown series.
Except for the relatively high degree of completion of Detective Chinatown 1, the rest of the series are not complete enough. Even the somewhat improved Detective Chinatown 1900 showed a high level of ability in the first part, with good atmosphere, comedy, and rhythm.
But the moment the answer was revealed, the story was completely over. However, he was smart enough to know that the climax of the answer was far from enough, so he relied on patriotic sentiment to elevate the story.
After all, I finally managed to pull the emotions up, even if it was a bit forced.
The key is that he himself is very clear about it, even clearer than the audience, so he seems to be very good at self-compromise in his works, and he is not the kind of director who demands extremes.
That's why he is called a business patchwork freak.
However, he has a very keen sense of the market, and is very good at capturing certain shots, grasping the rhythm, and mastering certain humorous elements.
I just feel that my self-requirements are not very high.
Moreover, he is very young now and has not undergone any training or baptism.
During the interview, Wang Baoqiang laughed at him and said, "You are a very average actor, much worse than me, so you became a director."
Of course, the two have a good relationship and can make such jokes.
And in fact, this may be the case.
So, since he is so young now and has just graduated from school, can he make a living as a director? Lin Xiao thinks there are pros and cons.
After long-term training, techniques and experience will become mature, but some emotions and patience will be lost, and the courage to take risks will also be lost.
Being young may not necessarily be a bad thing for the profession of director.
"Welcome to Lightning Entertainment!"
Chen Sicheng couldn't hold back his excitement, and stretched out his hands and clasped them tightly: "Master, I hope I can create new miracles like Director Ning Hao."
……………………
In 2003, it was a foregone conclusion that "Crazy Stone" would win the annual box office championship.
So what about 2004?
This year is a big year for movies.
"Kung Fu", "House of Flying Daggers" and "A World Without Thieves" all had box office revenues of over 100 million.
So what kind of works should Lightning Entertainment release?
"Train to Busan" is aimed at all of Asia and even the world, and this project can only be promoted with the participation of Columbia.
And even if this project is completed, it may not be able to be released in time for this year.
So, besides Love Is Not Blind, which movie should be released in the domestic market this year? Let the Bullets Fly, Charlotte's Troubles, or The Richest Man in Xihong City? They all seem to be OK, but they all seem to have flaws.
Let the Bullets Fly relies too much on the actors and has too strong personal influences.
Of course...
In fact, you can also put these aside and forget the previous versions.
After all, the personal color is strong, can it be as strong as Stephen Chow's works? According to the current situation, Jiang Wen will definitely not join, and Ge You will not join either.
Is there a replacement?
If there could be a perfect replacement, then this movie would definitely be of sufficient weight.
As for the last two parts.
Especially "Charlotte's Troubles", it actually relies a lot on the chemistry between the actors. Shen Zhuo and Mary have no problem because they have already debuted, but Yin Zheng definitely can't because he hasn't graduated yet.
Moreover, the current time is a bit too close to the time when the protagonist in the movie is reborn. The movie was released at the end of 2004, and the rebirth took place in 1998.
Is there such a chemical reaction? Some of the plots need to be changed, but... I found that the chemical reaction still exists and is even very strong.
Can the box office make a comeback?
Especially this year, blockbusters are rampant.
It seems to work, but it also seems not to work.
A notable feature has emerged in recent years: only blockbusters can get big box office.
From "Hero", "Assembly", "The Warlords", "The Promise", "Curse of the Golden Flower" and so on, there are almost no exceptions.
But what? In 2008, the box office of If You Are the One directly raised the record to a higher level, directly taking 325 million yuan at the box office, beating the equally big-budget Red Cliff.
Therefore, comedy films have always been a pass in the Chinese market and the greatest common denominator of the audience.
In addition, from the perspective of fans’ emotions, they definitely hope that Lightning Entertainment and Leader Ergou will have higher aspirations.
Hope it can be bigger.
But, if "Train to Busan" can really take shape.
That is certainly a big production, and Lightning Entertainment is the largest investor and one of the leading parties.
It should also be able to gain a foothold in national sentiment.
Of course, if the story of this movie is really changed and it becomes "Travel to Hong Kong", will it work?
It’s selling well in Japan, so it should still be fine.
But what about the Korean market? Can it directly rake in tens of millions of dollars at the box office?
Can it pass the domestic review?
A series of issues like this need to be decided, and they must be decided before the second Facebook Night.
………………
“Does it look good?”
Lian Yi was showing off her necklace, a custom-made sapphire pendant in a slightly abstract yet delicate butterfly shape.
It was also specially custom-made by Li Shuang.
The one given to Momo was a ruby and the one given to Lianyi was a sapphire.
Lin Xiao: "I can't see clearly, move forward a little."
Lian Yi leaned forward again.
Lin Xiao: "I still can't see clearly, let's move forward a little bit."
Lian Yi obediently moved forward and found that Lin Xiao's eyes were not right. He was not looking at the butterfly pendant at all, but staring at inside her clothes.
When he leaned forward, most of the little rabbit was exposed.
And she wore a skirt to look good.
"You hooligan, you are such a bad hooligan..." She covered her chest and punched Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao said: "I made a mistake."
"What?"
Lin Xiao: "This ornament should not be in the shape of a butterfly, but a rabbit, a little rabbit."
"Pah..." Lian Yi spat, "I just like butterflies."
“It’s beautiful…”
Lin Xiao: "Not as pretty as the rabbit."
Lin Xiao hugged her in his arms and said, "Wearing a skirt in the middle of winter, and showing your low-cut chest, what are your intentions?"
“No, no…” Lian Yi struggled: “I just want to show you the necklace, don’t act like a hooligan…”
"I don't believe it..." Lin Xiao tickled her slender waist, making her so itchy that she fell on the sofa and rolled around begging for mercy.
Soon his clothes became disheveled, his face flushed, and his breathing became a little rapid.
Secretary Xiao Lian is 21 years old this year and has matured.
She stared at Lin Xiao shyly and dazedly, then suddenly pouted her lips and pecked Lin Xiao on the mouth.
Then, they sucked together again.
Even when Lin Xiao put his hand under her skirt and touched her butt, she didn't stop him.
This made Lin Xiao very uncomfortable.
I wasn’t allowed to touch it before, so now it’s fun to touch it.
"I'm having dinner with your dad tomorrow, do you want to come with us?"
"Where are we going?" Lian Yi asked.
When she spoke, her small mouth was only a few centimeters away from Lin Xiao's face, and her eyes were fixed on Lin Xiao.
“Hangzhou.”
"I want to go with you, but I don't want to eat with you or meet him," Lian Yi said.
Lin Xiao: "Okay, now you don't even want your father anymore?"
"I just want to play with you. It must be boring for you to talk about business." Lian Yi pouted and said dissatisfiedly: "You are busy every day and have little time to spend with me."
Lin Xiao looked at Lian Yi in confusion: "You are not right today, so clingy, taking advantage of me and not resisting, what happened?"
"No, no..." Lian Yi twisted her body and refused to admit it.
In fact, she talked to her mother on the phone last night, and somehow they talked about the issue of getting married after graduating from college.
Moreover, Director Shu Wan showed a hint of worry. She must have heard some gossip, but it was definitely not about Xiao Momo, but about Li Shuang.
………………
January 9th.
Director Zhong of Zhijiang TV invited Lin Xiao and Mayor Lian Zheng to dinner.
This time, Lin Xiao was more proactive.
After three rounds of drinks, Director Zhong said, "Boss Lin, you really brought us so many surprises."
"We all got the movie Crazy Stone wrong."
"The previous estimate of the box office was just over 30 million, but I didn't expect it to go straight to 100 million. I really don't understand this world."
“So, it’s a young person’s world.”
"Mayor Lian, you have a keen eye for talent. You discovered such a genius two years ago."
Lian Zheng smiled and said, "To be honest, my expectations of him are far from that high."
"Sometimes when I think about the time when we met, it feels unreal."
Director Zhong said, "Boss Lin, I heard that we recently cooperated with Shanghai Satellite TV on a program? I've heard that they have great expectations for it and have invested a lot of manpower and resources. They plan to launch a big satellite for everyone."
"You are from Zhijiang, you can't be partial to one and ignore the other."
"Otherwise, even the mayor won't forgive you."
Lin Xiao thought for a while and said, "Director Zhong, what is your level of TV drama production?"
Director Zhong: "Honestly speaking, it's very weak."
The film and television production company under Zhijiang Radio and Television does not have any outstanding works.
However, Zhijiang has the richest film and television resources. With Hengdian World Studios as its backing, there will be a steady stream of film and television companies registered in Dongyang.
Lin Xiao asked: "Zhongtai, what do you expect us to cooperate on?"
Director Zhong said: "Just like Jiangnan TV and Shanghai TV, we will cooperate on a variety show."
However, Lightning Entertainment has already collaborated on three variety shows with Jiangnan TV and Modou TV. If they collaborate with Zhijiang TV on another variety show, it would be a huge civil war.
Moreover, Lightning Entertainment is currently involved in variety shows and movies.
There is still a big part left, which is the TV series, and this part must be filled.
Moreover, in the current television field, TV series are still very important. Even in terms of ratings, TV series still beat variety shows.
Lin Xiao said: "Zhong Tai, how about we work together on a TV series?"
Director Zhong was slightly stunned.
TV series? Isn't Zhijiang TV good at it?
There isn't even any successful precedent.
On the contrary, Zhijiang TV’s talent for variety shows has always been good.
In his opinion, Shuanglin Production has thoroughly proven itself in variety shows, so producing a variety show is the safest option.
Unexpectedly, Lin Xiao actually said that he wanted to collaborate on a TV series.
Director Zhong asked, "What kind of TV series?"
Lin Xiao: "A spy drama."
As a major category of TV dramas, spy war dramas are still relatively blank. It was not until the release of "The Counterfeiter" in 2005 that the spy war drama trend began.
Which one can be regarded as the pinnacle of spy war dramas?
Some say it is "The Counter-Strike", some say it is "The Kite", but if you take into account comprehensive factors such as word of mouth, ratings, influence, etc., it is undoubtedly "The Hidden Corner".
"The Counterfeiter" started the trend of spy war dramas.
It was "Insidious" that truly brought this genre to its peak.
Historically, this drama was adapted from Long Yi's short story, which had only more than 10,000 words and was published in People's Literature. It did not appear until 2006.
Therefore, you don’t even need to buy the copyright.
This drama has been aired on various satellite TV channels in turn. I don’t know how many times it has been broadcast, and the ratings have been very high every time.
In 2009, the four major satellite TV stations started broadcasting simultaneously, with ratings exceeding 8% from the start and even reaching 14% at its peak.
After that, he swept all kinds of awards.
It is definitely a phenomenal hit drama, a work that can span the ages.
Even twenty years later, it is still very popular and appears frequently on short video platforms.
The key point is that it is not a big drama, with a total investment of only 20 million yuan and it was completed in two months. So when watching it, you can find that many details in it are relatively rough, especially the performances of non-important actors and so on.
So, it could definitely be better.
But even so, it still got an astonishingly high score of 9.5 on Douban.
It is very appropriate to make it the first work of Lightning Entertainment to enter the TV drama industry.
It can add more weight to the golden signboard of Leader Ergou.
Anything produced by Ergou must be a masterpiece.
Director Zhong thought for a while and said, "Because If You Are the One has brought such great success to Jiangnan TV, we have been looking forward to a variety show."
"Now that you're talking about collaborating on a TV series, may I ask, what are your expectations for this show?"
Lin Xiao thought for a while: "No. 1 of the year!"
As soon as these words came out, Director Zhong was immediately excited.
No. 1 of the year?
Since its establishment, Zhijiang TV has never had such an honor.
At least in the field of TV dramas, they have never won the top few places.
Not to mention first place, even the top three are exciting.
"There are two ways to cooperate. The first way is that the drama is produced completely independently by our Lightning Entertainment, and then Zhijiang TV buys the first round broadcast rights."
"The second way is that we cooperate with Zhijiang Film and Television Production Company to jointly invest and produce this TV series."
Director Zhong said bluntly: "We prefer the second option."
If you just want to make money, you should definitely eat alone and make it individually.
But Lin Xiao is definitely not doing this just to make money, but to build a huge interest group.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Both the guests and the hosts had a great time.
"We have great expectations for our cooperation with Lightning Entertainment."
“I hope that the miracle of Master Ergou will be performed again on Zhijiang TV.”
Director Zhong smiled at Lian Zheng and said, "Mayor Lian, what did you say? Our Zhijiang Station has also boarded the Lightning Group's chariot."
Lian Zheng waved his hand: "I dare not say that."
Director Zhong said to Lin Xiao, "Let alone being the first in the year, even if we can get into the top five TV series of the year, it will be a huge breakthrough and victory for our Zhijiang TV."
"Looking at the box office miracle of Crazy Stone, I have infinite hope for this drama."
"If it succeeds, it will completely make up for our shortcomings."
………………
After dinner, Lian Zheng had a rare opportunity to sit and drink tea with Lin Xiao.
Lian Yi became a tea artist in a proper manner.
After not seeing each other for about a year, Lian Zheng has obviously aged a bit. It seems that the pressure in Vancouver is really great. The situation there is even more complicated. Moreover, Lian Zheng has just arrived and is a typical outsider.
However, Lin Xiao’s Lightning Group is still too small now, so it is difficult for him to become Lian Zheng’s assistant.
Because the industries do not overlap at all.
"I heard that the merger over there is almost completed." Lian Zheng asked.
Lin Xiao: "Have you heard about it?"
Lian Zhengdao: "Vancouver's capital is very active, so the news is relatively well-informed. Because of your success, it has promoted this big merger. According to the news I heard, their investment amount this time is very high, and there are many investors."
Lin Xiao said: "Yes, according to my sources, there are about four investors, and the total investment amount they declared may exceed a very astonishing figure."
Lian Zheng: “How much value do they see from Facebook?”
Lin Xiao: "The box office success of Crazy Stone was entirely driven by Facebook. The second reason was... the success of our prototype advertisement."
Lian Zheng: “Is it very successful?”
Lin Xiao: "Yes, it is an incredible success, even beyond our imagination."
Lian Yi said: "There are three pilot projects: Tongji University, Aurora University, and East China University of Political Science and Law. We selected a few specific businesses and persuaded them to place advertisements in our Facebook community. The persuasion process was very difficult. But they finally placed advertisements. We were very optimistic about the effect of the advertisements, but the actual effect was much better than we imagined."
"We didn't expect that this kind of absolutely vertical advertising would be so powerful."
Lian Yi was not the only one who didn't expect that several of them would directly become popular online celebrity stores, forming a herd effect.
As for Facebook, in order to achieve its own advertising model, its advertising promotion is comprehensive.
It’s not just hard promotion, there’s also a lot of soft promotion.
Lian Yi said: "Not only that, the bigger sensation happened more than half a month ago. Shenzhou Computer took a fancy to Facebook and became Facebook's first major advertising client."
"We are very careful in selecting advertisers, and the prices we quote are also very high, so those merchants are quite cautious. I didn't expect that after we placed targeted ads on Shenzhou, the sales of its laptops would be significantly improved."
"The extent of the improvement and the effect of the advertisement not only far exceeded our imagination, but also greatly exceeded the imagination of Shenzhou Computer Company."
"This fully proves that our advertising value is higher than that of traditional portals."
Lian Zhengdao: "Is it precisely the success of Facebook that greatly catalyzed Sohu's agreement to this major merger?"
Lin Xiao said: "Yes!"
Lian Zheng: "In other words, you will face a very huge competitor next?"
Lin Xiao: "Yes, on the surface he is a very huge competitor. But I think it's like the 18 princes' crusade against Dong Zhuo. It looks grand and impressive, but in reality it's vulnerable!"
In Lin Xiao's mind, he had been preparing for this battle for a long time.
Facebook's road to becoming a giant should be based on this corpse.
………………
January 11! Lightning Entertainment officially announced that the box office of "Crazy Stone" exceeded 100 million! As soon as this announcement came out.
Suddenly, there was a boiling sensation.
Although many people were prepared for it to reach over 100 million, they were still shocked when it actually happened.
Leader Ergou is really awesome.
Who could have imagined this result?
At first everyone thought that it would be good enough for him to have 30 million.
The producers of "Cell Phone" kept saying that "Crazy Stone" was not worthy of being its rival.
And what is the result?
"Cell Phone" ultimately failed to break through 60 million, stopping at around 58 million.
And there is a high probability that the crazy stone can still move up a little bit.
Therefore, the final box office may be between 110 million and 120 million.
Exactly twice as much.
It's really a slap in the face.
So the entire entertainment industry fell into a brief period of silence.
………………
The Spring Festival in 2004 was relatively early, so Facebook Night was scheduled for February 1st.
On the day when it was announced that the box office of "Crazy Stone" exceeded 100 million yuan, an announcement was also made on the Facebook homepage.
The second Facebook Night will officially take place on February 1st.
And it was the next day!
January 12! Another shocking news broke.
Sohu's chianren and Lingxidao's social networking sites have officially merged.
The name of the new website is Renren.
The inertia of history is really stubborn.
Chen Yizhou and Wu Lingxi will become co-CEOs of the new website.
More than 8 funds including IDG, Yingke Digital, Lenovo Capital, Sohu and others will jointly invest US$150 million.
Of course, Lin Xiao knew that the so-called 150 million US dollars was inflated.
For example, Sohu acquired shares based on the valuation of the chianren website, and Lingxi Island also acquired shares based on the social part.
The only four companies that really spent big money were Wu Lingxi, Liao Feng, Miyazaki, and Yingke Digital.
There are only a few venture capital firms left, but they don’t invest much money.
But the amount of investment is still very shocking, especially for Wu Lingxi and Miyazaki, it is almost a gamble.
This news directly caused an earthquake in the industry.
The first and third social networking platforms have merged to encircle and attack Facebook, which is ranked second.
Following right on!
Wu Lingxi and Chen Yizhou announced that the first Renren Night will be held on the evening of February 1st.
Huayi Brothers, Media Asia, and Golden Harvest Films serve as co-organizers.
Wu Lingxi and Chen Yizhou completely learned and even imitated Lin Xiao's style of play, deeply integrating into the entertainment industry and grabbing the largest source of traffic.
The Beijing and Hong Kong circles immediately embraced each other and formed a powerful group.
………………
The evening parties of the two major groups were held on the same day.
Entertainment stars who didn’t need to take sides before are now really taking sides this time.
Everyone sighed that the combined efforts of children of high-ranking officials and overseas capital were truly amazing.
In a short period of time, such a big situation was accumulated.
What is this, the six major sects besieging Guangmingding?
Or is it the Eighteen Princes' crusade against Dong Zhuo? Zhou Xingchi looked at the two invitations in front of him and was in a dilemma.
He was also stunned by the box office performance of Crazy Stone. His Kung Fu was about to be released in 2004, and he wanted to promote it on Facebook.
However, Huayi is also one of the investors of the movie "Kung Fu".
Which party should I attend? It is impossible to decide.
…………
On the other side, Columbia's female president, Amy Pascal, also had two invitations in front of her.
For her, she doesn't care about the newly established Renren.com.
She doesn't care much about the Internet industry.
But she must care about the capital behind it.
And it seems that the entire Beijing and Hong Kong circles are standing behind Renren.
In the entire Chinese entertainment industry, the Beijing and Hong Kong circles occupy more than half of the market.
What should Lin Xiao's Lightning Entertainment be called? Qianglong?
Or should that be catfish.
I didn't expect that she, at her level, would also join the team? One was a former partner.
One is a possible potential partner.
The two parties were held on the same day, which meant she had to choose one side.
Moreover, the parent company, Sony Entertainment, has always regarded the Chinese market as one of the most important markets.
Then this choice must be made very carefully.
He picked up the document on the table, which clearly recorded the entire box office curve of "Crazy Stone".
It's really a miracle.
During the preview, when the young Lin Xiao said that the box office would reach 70 million RMB, the female president did not deny it, because based on her professional vision, it was impossible to reach this number.
As a result...the final box office is likely to be around RMB 115 million.
This is a terrifying number.
A movie with an investment of 7 million yuan earned nearly 17 times the box office.
It really is like magic.
And that young man had given himself a project not long ago.
The ambitious project is to complete a film with trilateral cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, and the box office in Asia must reach more than 100 million US dollars.
When he says it, of course you can sneer at it.
Now, after the box office miracle of "Crazy Stone", we must take the weight of his words seriously.
The most important thing is that Amy feels very excited.
"Heroes of Heaven and Earth" was also her project, and it ended up being a complete failure.
The results of the Japanese market are out, and they are extremely bleak.
"Has the parent company given its opinion yet?"
The secretary said, "They should have sent the email."
The female president turned on her computer and sure enough, an email was already there.
Sony Entertainment's parent company has provided a very detailed data on the territory and weight of the Beijing and Hong Kong circles in China's entertainment industry.
Finally, the parent company gave professional advice.
Although Lightning Entertainment has achieved impressive results in the Chinese box office market, Sony Entertainment prefers to form alliances with powerful partners. The person in charge of Lightning Entertainment is too young and aggressive. We advise Ms. Amy to choose carefully.
In the end, the female president put down the two invitation letters and called Lin Xiao directly.
"Mr. Lin, if we work together, can the movie be released by the end of 2004?"
Lin Xiao was stunned? Is it so urgent?
Although this "Train to Busan" does not have too many special effects and does not require much post-production, it is a cooperative project among three countries after all, so the progress is bound to be slower.
"able!"
The female president asked again, "Regarding the global box office, are you willing to sign a bet agreement? It doesn't need to be $100 million, $70 million will do."
Lin Xiao: “Yes!”
Female CEO: "If we form a joint venture, what about the subsequent projects?"
Lin Xiao: "Each one is bigger than the last, and each one is more successful than the last."
The female president said slowly, "I have to tell you first, my parent company does not recommend Columbia to cooperate with you, because they think you are too young and aggressive. And once they cooperate with you, they will offend the biggest players in the Chinese entertainment market."
"But I think being conservative and stubborn is a sad thing."
“I would love to work with you and attend your Facebook night.”
Lin Xiao let out a long sigh. The most important person had been captured, and the first step towards going overseas was accomplished.
………………
Note: This chapter has a fast pace, so I wrote it slowly. I'm going to have lunch, lunch and dinner together.
Also, benefactor, can you give me some cakes with your monthly ticket? Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
(End of this chapter)