Chapter 227 "Interested"
After a while, Cheng Fei sent over a sorted data chart.
A summary message was also attached.
"If we extrapolate the global box office based on the two-week domestic box office trend, it should be around 80 million US dollars, which is more than 600 million RMB."
"But the global box office revenue share is also different. After all, overseas cinemas have higher publicity and promotion costs, and tax regulations vary from place to place."
"If we follow the previous contract, the final share that will go to Kuiguang Group should be around 100 million."
"We are wasting no time in signing a new contract, and your share will be higher."
New contract...
The corners of Yang Ruoqian's mouth twitched.
It’s the new contract that was thrown over along with the sports car last time, right?
A sports car destroyed Yang Ruoqian's current finances, and a contract cut off his subsequent way of making money. It was like cutting off the source of funds, and the means were extremely cruel.
Yang Ruoqian, who had been dragging his feet on signing the contract, took a deep breath to ease his emotions: "Boss Cheng, let's just stick with the old contract. It's too much trouble to change the contract at this juncture. Let's do it for the next movie."
It is predicted that the group will eventually receive a global box office revenue of 100 million...
This is another very terrible income.
Although Yang Ruoqian has authorized the legal department and the public relations department with the greatest authority to spend money, even with authority, it still takes time to spend money.
The original domestic box office revenue had not been spent yet, and the global box office revenue was rushing in. Who could bear this? If it weren't for the 500 million big project of "Titanic 2" that Shao Yiqi was in charge of, Yang Ruoqian wanted to give up the loss target for this quarter and just take the commission.
Cheng Fei sent another message: "Yes, forget that you are not interested in money, Mr. Yang. Then let me tell you something that you are interested in?"
Yang Ruoqian, who racked his brains every day to make more money from the system: "..."
No, what did I do to make you think I'm not interested in money?
Yang Ruoqian clearly never concealed his happiness every time he received a red envelope, and he almost laughed out loud when he received the sports car! Even though it was so obvious, why did someone still misunderstand him so much? Yang Ruoqian tried to explain, "Boss Cheng, I am actually quite interested in money."
Cheng Fei, who had already completed the logical cycle, didn't believe it at all: "Boss Yang needs to practice pretending to be happy every time he receives money... Do you know the Water City Film Festival?"
Pretending to be happy?! Is it possible that I was really happy at that time? When I acted happy, I was pretending to be happy. When I acted unhappy, I was really unhappy. It was a three-dimensional defense, right? Anyway, as long as the conclusion was that Yang Ruoqian was not interested in money, it didn't matter how outrageous the reasoning was.
Sure enough, people are only willing to believe what they believe, even if the person involved comes out to refute the rumor.
Yang Ruoqian was completely desperate about convincing his partners, so he could only change the subject back to the main business to prevent the other party from continuing to reinforce this incorrect stereotype.
"Watertown Film Festival? I know it's one of the most prestigious awards in the world. What does it have to do with our film?"
Could this movie that I came up with with my feet win an international award? If a movie wants to win this kind of award, a large part of the winning movies are those that have connotation and depth, but are critically acclaimed but not commercially successful, and have failed at the global box office.
Commerciality and box office success are certainly important factors in whether a film wins an award, but they are by no means the only factors.
Although the box office of "The Boys" is high, it is not high enough to break the circle.
Can a popcorn movie about superheroes really have any depth? It's enough to fool yourself, why can it really fool international judges? Most of the judges of this kind of international film festival are Westerners, and the film culture content of the motherland is naturally in conflict.
Different cultures will shape different aesthetics, and cultural identity will naturally be much weaker.
It is almost impossible for a domestic film to win an international award.
Not to mention the highest honor, the Golden Lion Award, even the second-best Silver Lion Award is extremely difficult to win.
Cheng Fei obviously takes this matter very seriously: "Because the content of our film is very profound, even though the box office performance is not among the top ones, we have been nominated! This is a big breakthrough!"
Mr. Yang, who had just denied the depth of the content of "The Black Robe Inspection Team", was completely speechless.
All I can say is that whether a work has depth sometimes does not depend on what the author thinks, but on how the audience sees it.
Just like the author of an essay simply describes the color of a carpet, there may be countless people who have nothing better to do than to analyze what the color of the carpet reflects about the author's mood.
It can even turn this completely nonsensical analysis into a set of questions...
As for the authors’ own thoughts…most of the authors who could contribute test questions are now buried in the ground, and you can’t ask them even if you want to.
Yang Ruoqian thought for a moment and replied, "It's just a nomination. I don't think we should be happy too early."
In fact, Yang Ruoqian felt that there was little hope for the film to win an award.
International awards lack cultural identity and are difficult to win; domestic awards are so rotten that they have almost no value, so Yang Ruoqian is too lazy to make the effort.
Moreover, the awards are selected based on the content and box office of the film. By the time the awards are finally announced, the popularity of the film will have long passed and will not have much impact on subsequent events.
The most important thing is that the three major international film festivals are initiated by non-profit organizations, and they only set up awards but no prize money.
Mr. Yang, who thinks he is out of touch with high tastes, doesn't care about this honor at all.
Therefore, Yang Ruoqian basically has only one attitude towards winning awards - there is a high probability that he will not win, and even if he does, it won't make much sense.
Cheng Fei sent another message: "This is only our first film. It is not easy to achieve such an achievement. Mr. Yang, don't be discouraged. If we make a little progress in each film, it will be easy for us to win an award, right?"
"Compared to this, I have also won some domestic awards, but Mr. Yang probably won't be very interested."
Yang Ruoqian joked, "This kind of industrial assembly line wholesale award, can Mr. Cheng, who is so picky about people, be interested in it?"
Yang Ruoqian wasn't entirely joking.
Programs such as Wei Bo's Night will give out proper awards to various artists, idols and actors.
There are a lot of awards that seem to have little value, such as Influential Singer, Breakthrough Actor of the Year, Up-and-coming Artist of the Year, New Artist, Goddess of the Year, Social Software King, etc.
It looked like an award ceremony, but in fact it was a large-scale cake-sharing event. The scene was comparable to a trophy wholesale market, which was quite funny.
It is a consensus that domestic entertainment awards have always been very worthless.
Yang Ruoqian didn't want to integrate into this circle, nor did he need to.
Cheng Fei understood what Yang Ruoqian meant, so she explained seriously: "I know that Mr. Yang doesn't think highly of these awards, but there's nothing we can do about it... After all, we're not strong enough right now, so we always have to borrow some momentum."
Yang Ruoqian is not a self-righteous person. His lack of interest in this kind of award does not mean that he must completely draw a line between himself and others or even fight to the death.
Anyway, as long as it does not cause significant profits to the Kuiguang Group, Yang Ruoqian basically takes an indifferent attitude.
Yang Ruoqian typed, "Okay, Mr. Cheng can make his own arrangements for this matter. It won't be a big problem on my end."
"Okay, Mr. Yang, please get busy. I'll let you know if I have any news."
Yang Ruoqian glanced at the several unread messages that suddenly popped up in the upper left corner of WeChat. After saying a polite word, he poked his finger and exited the chat box.
The name pushed to the top of the new news is Shao Yiqi.
Of course, Mr. Yang described this college classmate as “adopted son”.
On the top message, the message from Shao Yiqi was simple and clear: "Boss, the Shelter Company has basically agreed to the acquisition, but there are a few details that I'm undecided about. How about you go and discuss it in person?"
As the boss of such a large group, he actually doesn't need to be involved in most of the business himself, his subordinates can make the decisions on their own.
But after all, it involves a super production with an estimated investment of 500 million yuan, and no employee can take responsibility for such a major decision.
The final decision must be made by Yang Ruoqian himself.
Moreover, at this stage, Yang Ruoqian's main attention is indeed on new films and newly acquired film production companies.
Yang Ruoqian thought about it and felt that such a huge project with huge profit risks was indeed not reassuring, so he decided to go there in person to visit the shelter company to see what they were like.
…
"Boss, this way, this way!"
At the entrance of the shelter company, Shao Yiqi waved to Yang Ruoqian and introduced several persons in charge of the shelter company.
His name is Cai Meng. He used to be an employee of a large production company. Later, he resigned from the company, found some professionals through his connections in the industry, and set up his own production company.
Yang Ruoqian always kept in mind that he had to think about problems from a profit model perspective this time, so he walked up and shook hands with Cai Meng: "Hello, Mr. Cai."
"Hello, Mr. Yang. You're welcome. Please come in!"
Shao Yiqi had basically discussed all the specific matters, and only some details remained, which Cai Meng wanted to discuss with Yang Ruoqian in person.
"Mr. Yang, I personally welcome your willingness to invest in the Shelter Company... As you know, our business is somewhat single-minded. Although we are confident that we will be able to make a profit in the long run, the failure caused by short-term risks may very likely bring us down."
"We can sign a bet agreement with you. If we fail to achieve the profit target within three years, you can dispose of the company at your discretion."
"But if it's done, we have a small favor, okay?"
Yang Ruoqian, who was thinking profitably, nodded in satisfaction and said, "If you have any requests, you can make them now. If they are reasonable, a bet agreement may not be necessary."
Seeing the other party's attitude, Cai Meng felt relieved and said, "That's right. I hope that after you become the company's largest shareholder, you will not interfere too much in the decisions related to film production. I know our company is a bit strange, but please believe me, it will definitely be profitable."
From a profit perspective, Yang Ruoqian's initial idea was not to acquire all of the shares of the Shelter Company, but to acquire only 67%, gaining absolute control while retaining the status of other shareholders on the board of directors.
Only in this way can shareholders, who still serve as management, think about issues from the perspective of the company's long-term profitability.
If a full acquisition is made, the former shareholders will become pure managers, which will conflict with the interests of the shareholders to some extent.
Cai Meng hopes that Kuiguang Group will not acquire more than one-third of the shares, but only hold relative control, leaving the original shareholders with the right to veto major decisions.
If the profit target is not achieved within three years, Yang Ruoqian will decide whether to kill or chop the company into pieces.
If the 500 million investment is lost, the Kuiguang Group, which cannot hold more than two-thirds of the shares, will bear a loss of more than 300 million...
Even if it's not a total loss, it will take time for the box office to make back the investment, and by that time it will be long past the second quarter settlement date.
The overseas box office revenue of "The Boys" is only an estimate, and it will take some time for the full amount to be credited.
All in all, from the perspective of normal acquisition and profit, Cai Meng's request is logical.
Yang Ruoqian nodded gently and said, "How about this, please show me the profit statements of the movies your company has previously shot, and then take me to your set for a walk, and I will make a decision."
Cai Meng, who was very confident in his ideas, had already prepared the relevant information and immediately sent a copy to Yang Ruoqian.
However, Cai Meng was a little embarrassed about the request to inspect the set: "Well, Mr. Yang, our set is rented, and it may not be the same as you imagined."
Cai Meng certainly knew that his boss had made a top-notch blockbuster movie like "The Boys".
The problem is that only the people at Shelter.com know that after deciding to transform, their profit logic is completely different from that of ordinary movies.
It's even different from the small-scale masterpieces they had shot before.
This kind of difference is difficult for ordinary people to understand, and Cai Meng doesn't think that a big boss like Yang Ruoqian can understand it.
So just propose a bet agreement and let the results speak for themselves.
While flipping through the movies produced by the Shelter Company, Yang Ruoqian asked casually, "It's okay, just take a look... What are the specific differences?"
Judging from the profit and loss statements, the people at Shelter did not lie. Although these small-scale films did not make high profits, the investment was also very small, and the profit margins were very good.
At the same time, just as they said, due to the low profits, maintaining the company's daily expenses has become a very troublesome thing.
It's like assuming there's a business where you can get a dollar in return for an investment of 50 cents, but it can only be done once an hour... then no matter how high the profit margin is, the profit amount will hardly cover expenses other than the business.
If the movie fails by accident, the capital chain will be broken immediately. Even if they have enough capacity to make more movies to make up for the losses, their tight finances will not give them the time.
Everything looks like a normal project.
I just don't know why they suddenly came up with the idea of making "Titanic 2".
Cai Meng said helplessly: "How about this, Mr. Yang, I'll send you some photos taken on the set?"
Yang Ruoqian thought about it and nodded, "Then send me the photos."
Cai Meng operated his phone twice and transferred several files over. He said cautiously, "Boss Yang, please don't feel weird after reading this... This has always been our company's style."
Why is he so shy? As the investor of "The Dragon Son-in-law" and "The Black Robe Inspection Team", Yang Ruoqian often strolls around the set and has seen big scenes.
As the leader of domestic superhero movies and a strong contender for the top three in the annual box office, is there anything in this world that could find him strange?
What scene has he not seen? Yang Ruoqian was like a city dweller entering a village at this moment, and he looked at the picture sent by Cai Meng with full confidence.
After just one glance, the knowledgeable Mr. Yang fell silent.
After three or four seconds, Yang Ruoqian asked uncertainly, "Boss Cai, are you sure this is really your studio?"
There were a few old sofas and some random lamps scattered around. There were no carpets or tiles on the floor, just bare concrete with some dirty cloth on it.
It seemed that the set had not been cleaned for a long time. Yang Ruoqian could smell the faint musty smell through the screen.
The staff on the set were busy in simple clothes, apparently fiddling with old equipment and debugging some old fans and screens.
It was so dim that one could only barely see the area around the set with the faint light from the swaying desk lamp in the corner and a few remaining light bulbs on the empty ceiling.
Ah, this...
This cannot be called a minimalist style, it can only be called a battle-damaged style.
Isn't it too simple?!
When had Yang Ruoqian ever seen such a scene? Could this scene really support a big production that was estimated to cost at least 500 million yuan? At this moment, Yang Ruoqian almost doubted whether he and Shao Yiqi had misjudged something.
No...the other party is a professional from a big production company and has a professional team.
And judging from past results, the performance is quite good.
Obviously, Yang Ruoqian, as an outsider, was just worrying too much.
Yang Ruoqian nodded slightly, smiling and saying something against his will: "It looks good, there's nothing strange about it."
In order to make his nonsense seem more realistic, Yang Ruoqian now has some acting skills.
Cai Meng suddenly felt a little admiration.
As expected of an investor of "The Black Robe Inspection Team", he has a unique vision.
Obviously, Cai Meng, a man of limited knowledge, was just worrying too much.
Cai Meng, who was worried, nodded slightly and said the truth with a smile: "Boss Yang is indeed knowledgeable. In this case, what do you think of our small request?"
(Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! Thank you for the tip from book friend 20191113093553622. Thank you very much! Although I have already thanked you on QQ, I would like to thank you again~)
ps: Does anyone want Maxim's mooncakes? I have a box here that I can give away.
(End of this chapter)
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