As the sun set, Fang Yang took a rare stroll along the Bund. A gentle sea breeze blew by, and the mild waves occasionally lapped against the sand, cooling it down. Fang Yang took off his flip-flops and stepped barefoot onto the now cool sand, watching Zhou Xin laughing and running through the waves.
Today, under the pretext of accompanying actors from Kyoto Film and Television to audition, this girl immediately pestered Fang Yang to visit his home. Fortunately, Fang Yang had already finished writing all four seasons of "Loser Men and Women" and handed them over to Fu Ming, so he was on a break. Therefore, he took Zhou Xin back to the villa and prepared two big meals for Zhou Xin, satisfying her appetite.
Zhou Xin, who has lived in Kyoto for a long time, has always longed for the sea. Now that she had the opportunity, she naturally went wild, splashing around in the waves like a child. Wearing a green floral dress, barefoot, and carrying high-heeled sandals in one hand, her youthful and beautiful appearance made her a very beautiful sight on the Bund in the sunset, attracting the attention of most people.
Every now and then, a few well-dressed elites would come up to chat, but they all left empty-handed. As a scenic spot in Shanghai, the Bund was heavily guarded, and nothing untoward happened. Fang Yang, who had lived there for a long time, was very at ease about it and stood not far away, watching Zhou Xin's performance.
Night eventually fell over the earth. Fang Yang called Zhou Xin, who had been having a great time, to go back. After Zhou Xin tidied up, Fang Yang drove her back to her hotel, reluctant to leave. Seeing Zhou Xin's sullen expression, Fang Yang changed the subject: "Ms. Zhou, your family has been in the entertainment industry for so long, how are the cinemas doing now?"
Zhou Xin rested her chin on her fingers, thought for a moment, and said, "It seems that cinemas are doing very poorly right now, and two of them are on the verge of bankruptcy."
Fang Yang: "How could a cinema go bankrupt? As long as people watch movies, there will be income. With so many movies being made every year, aren't cinemas guaranteed to make a living regardless of the circumstances?"
Zhou Xin gave Fang Yang a strange look. "Don't you know? A movie only sells a few hundred million yuan worth of tickets. How can so many cinemas across the country support that? The cinemas I just told you about are medium-sized ones. Small cinemas have long since disappeared."
Fang Yang pondered for a moment and asked, "Then how many screens are there in the medium-sized cinemas you mentioned across the country?"
Zhou Xin shook her head and said, "I don't know. It seems that there are branches in first-, second-, and third-tier cities. Each branch has six or seven screens, so there must be several hundred screens in total!"
Fang Yang nodded. There are more than 2,000 cities in the country, and the first, second and third-tier cities combined are only about 90. It is indeed not many. It seems that the cinema business is not doing well right now and is in a slump. The plan to buy land is far from being realized. It is not worthwhile to let more than 2 billion yuan sit in the bank and earn interest. It would be better to find a way to buy a cinema chain. When making movies in the future, having a cinema chain will ensure that if something like Yuehai happens again, we will be in an invincible position.
The next day, after seeing Zhou Xin and the others off, Fang Yang approached Yang Huajin and asked, "Uncle Yang, what do you think about us buying a cinema chain?"
Yang Huajin was startled: "You mean the cinema chain?"
Fang Yang laughed and said, "That's right. It's a slump for cinemas right now. I estimate that the film market will definitely explode in the future. Moreover, once the qualifications for cinema chains are tightened, cinema chains will become highly sought after, and it will be difficult to get one."
Yang Huajin said with a struggle: "The problem is that entering the film market now means losing money from the start, and it's a continuous loss."
Fang Yang looked at Yang Huajin and asked, "Uncle Yang, what do you think of the domestic economy right now?"
Yang Huajin straightened his back and said, "That's absolutely true. Our GDP is number one in the world, the country is prosperous and the people are at peace!"
Fang Yang: "After basic needs like food and clothing are met, what will you want?"
Yang Huajin: "It's a spiritual need."
Fang Yang clapped his hands: "That's right. What are people's spiritual needs now? Television, the internet, movies, painting, fitness, travel, sports, and so on. As the most important form of entertainment, it is bound to usher in an era of flourishing diversity. Look, the country is now placing cultural development in an important position and has included it in the five-year plan. Do you think that cinemas will continue to be in such a slump in the future?"
Yang Huajin pondered and said, "That makes sense. A movie ticket costs twenty or thirty yuan now, which is about the price of a pack of cigarettes. Even if we only watch a movie once every six months, with a city population of six or seven hundred million, that's a market of 40 billion yuan a year. If that's divided among all the film companies, the revenue is still very considerable. If the movie is good, it could easily generate a market of hundreds of billions of yuan."
Fang Yang laughed and said, "So I think there will definitely be a major market reshuffle in the future, with big fish eating small fish and small fish naturally disappearing. When there are only a few cinema chains left in the market, it will be impossible for you to own one. Each cinema chain has a net worth of tens of billions, and not many film companies have the strength to compete with them."
Yang Huajin: "There are more than 2,200 cities in the country that can be counted. If we build a cinema in each city, and each cinema has six or seven screening rooms, it would cost 10 million yuan. That would amount to more than 20 billion yuan nationwide. Even if we only build cinemas in cities at or above the fifth tier, there are still 405 cities, which would cost more than 4 billion yuan. Xiaoyang, we don't have that much money!"
Fang Yang laughed and said, "I heard from Zhou Xin yesterday that two mid-sized cinema chains are going bankrupt. You can try to contact them and acquire one of them. We can develop slowly, and in the future, when we make movies, we won't have to depend on others."
Yang Huajin hesitated. He had just earned more than 2 billion yuan, and now he was going to invest it all, especially since the future was not very clear. What if he lost money?
Fang Yang immediately understood Yang Huajin's thoughts and said, "Uncle Yang, you see, it takes about half a year to film a TV series. The investment is about 50 million, and we film a total of 40 episodes. If we sell it to TV stations, we can get an average of 500,000 per episode. If we sell it to five TV stations, it will only be 100 million. So we can earn 50 million in half a year."
Fang Yang paused for a moment, then said, "If we make a movie with the same investment of 50 million, and it generates 500 million in revenue in six months, after deducting taxes and fees, we'll have 480 million left. If we give 40% to the theaters, we'll still have 288 million left. So, in six months, we'll earn 238 million, which is eight times the revenue of a TV series. This shows that movie revenue is truly exorbitant. If we can't make a breakthrough in the movie market, the company's development will forever remain confined to a small corner!"
After thinking for a long time, Yang Huajin finally understood the implications. "Alright, Xiao Yang, Uncle Yang may not be very capable, but he can manage this family well. Just go for it, and Uncle Yang will be there to support you. I won't let you have any worries."
Fang Yang said emotionally, "Uncle Yang, with you stabilizing everything from behind, I dare to charge forward without any worries. Don't worry, as long as we control the cinema chain, ten Yuehais wouldn't be enough for us. What Yuehai gave us before, we will repay tenfold or a hundredfold in the future. The cinema chain is the last weakness of our Yuewen Entertainment!"
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