"Selling peripherals? Ready-made goods? Still have so much inventory?"
When Xie Wanzhao saw the news, he had already concluded that Sheng Quan would lose all its money.
As a middle-aged woman who is almost fifty years old, she has worked hard from a young girl with nothing to her current wealth and status. Naturally, she has considerable experience.
She was secretly very happy, but she didn't show it. Instead, she maintained the attitude of a senior and commented lightly:
"He's selling peripheral products for newly released movies in China. It seems that this young CEO is used to the foreign environment and didn't carefully understand the Chinese market when choosing the movies to enter."
She should be gloating, after all, Xie Wanzhao is the investor of "Iron-Blooded Boss".
"The Boss" is the most anticipated movie in this year's Spring Festival - if "The Cultivator" does not appear.
On the first day, when the box office of "The Cultivator" suddenly soared and slightly surpassed "The Iron-Blooded Boss", Xie Wanzhao immediately called a meeting and urgently increased the publicity of his own film.
The publicity was indeed effective. On the second day, their box office was significantly higher than expected, a typical upward trend.
At that time, Xie Wanzhao breathed a sigh of relief. Even if "The Cultivator" was also rising steadily, there was still hope for a reversal.
The best outcome is that they don't climb.
"The Cultivator" did not climb.
It flew up like a flying monkey.
Xie Wanzhao: “…”
Don't ask, you will regret it if you ask.
"The Boss" was filmed a long time ago, but it has been kept in reserve just to wait for the Spring Festival. Whether it is the internal preview or the evaluation of professional film critics, they all make them full of confidence.
Regarding the movies that also chose to be released during the Spring Festival, Xie Wanzhao and others have of course done a precise analysis, and the conclusion is that no matter the production team or anything else, they are no match for them.
Finally, the conclusion is: this Spring Festival, they will definitely leave the movies of the same period far behind.
And now, it is beyond reach.
It's a pity that "Iron-Blooded Boss" is looking at others.
When Xie Wanzhao was counting competitors, he had also paid attention to "The Cultivator". After all, the previous "Live Broadcast of the Immortal Palace" was so popular, and the subsequent flourishing of immortal-hero themes was obviously paving the way for the movie.
However, after careful calculation and analysis, they found that "The Cultivator" was not considered a threat.
So what if the investment is high? If a CEO who has been immersed in the film industry for many years (such as her) invests so much, then there is no doubt that the chances of this movie becoming a hit are very high.
Can be replaced with Shengquan...
Young, newbie, rich second generation, all the elements of failure are present.
Yes, the drama she invested in, Life Road, was a big hit, but TV dramas and movies are different. Life Road can at least be said to be a comedy, but what is Cultivator? A fairy tale that is so unpopular.
No matter how many fantasy novels, fantasy comics, and fantasy music Sheng Quan and his team produce, they are all different from real movies. Movies are meant to make people willing to pay to watch them.
"The Cultivator" released the Immortal Palace ahead of time, and created so many fairy-tale works to hype up the subject matter. Others may think that this is genius marketing, but Xie Wanzhao and others think that this is simply courting death.
You have to know that not every penny earned from a movie release belongs to the investors.
After the box office statistics are released, you must pay special funds for the film industry, then pay special business tax and agency fees, and this is the net box office.
The net box office is not distributed among the investors who get together and share it.
First, the cinemas will take about 50 percent, and then the theater chain will take 7 percent.
The issuer also gets a share.
The producers represented by the investors can only get about 40% in the end.
When making a movie, the bigger the investment, the harder it is to make a profit. Sheng Quan has invested huge sums of money to build ten immortal palaces and has also made various desperate efforts to promote immortal themes, with a net investment of over 300 million.
In Xie Wanzhao's eyes, this was not just playing with fire, it was simply burning oneself.
Therefore, even though "The Cultivator" was very popular, she never thought of avoiding it. Instead, she planned to sit back and wait with the attitude of a "winner".
At that time, Xie Wanzhao had even figured out how to comfort the young President Sheng, and would be the first to invite her to participate when the company had any big move next time.
What? No laugh? You must be kidding!
Who would go against a wealthy and stupid person?
Xie Wanzhao even had a favorable impression of Sheng Quan, as if he was a magnanimous and kind elder looking at a young and ignorant junior.
She could see that Sheng Quan really wanted to make a good movie.
While Xie Wanzhao was laughing at the child's innocence, she couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic, because she was also passionate when she was young and wanted to do well.
But people have to grow up, and the market is like this. To make a good movie in China is not only like rowing against the current, it can even be said to be a thankless task.
Just like this time's "Iron Boss", an adventure comedy with many celebrities, the money was mainly spent on inviting the celebrities, the quality is pretty good, but after the release it will definitely be a net profit and a lot of money can be made, and the risk is almost reduced to the lowest.
On the other hand, the risk in "The Cultivator" is simply maximized.
Then, a movie that seemed impossible to make a comeback, saw its box office soar.
Xie Wanzhao was a businessman after all. After being overtaken, she almost immediately withdrew her slight favor towards Sheng Quan.
After all, people can always be kind to the losers who lost to them, but it’s a different story if you are the loser.
After a week of tossing and turning, Xie Wanzhao had to admit that there was no hope of a comeback.
"The Cultivator" is already unstoppable.
The entire company spent a year and a half of time, energy and money, and used countless connections to invite stars. It was clearly a win-win situation, but they had to accept the fact that the box office would not achieve the expected results.
Xie Wanzhao accepted it well. The film industry is ever-changing, and this failure would not be too devastating to her.
But it didn't affect her gloating when she saw Sheng Quan selling spot peripherals!
I was suppressed by a junior, and now this junior made such a low-level mistake. How could I not feel secretly happy?
Xie Wanzhao fell asleep with such secret happiness in her heart. When she woke up the next day, she slowly ate her breakfast, dealt with two tasks that had been postponed from yesterday to now, and then went out for a walk.
After returning home, she opened the book "The Cultivator" with a mentality of "Let me watch the failure of young people".
Official website for selling peripheral products.
It’s no wonder that Sheng Quan is young. For things like movie peripherals, they have to have pre-sales to be reliable.
How can you sell spot goods directly, and in such large quantities?
If you can't sell these peripherals, they will just be wasted. I took a look at them when they went online yesterday, and the number was really staggering.
Xie Wanzhao drank warm water and slowly moved his eyes to the screen.
Now, after one night, only 10% of them should have been sold... sold out? ? ? ! ! She almost spit out a mouthful of water.
Xie Wanzhao stopped drinking the water, put down the cup and slid the mouse to scroll down the page.
Sold out, sold out, sold out.
The screen is full of peripheral stocks, and almost all of them are sold out.
She could understand that small dolls worth only a few dozen yuan were sold out, but as she looked along, she found that even the most expensive life-size figures were sold out.
This thing is priced at 23,000.
Three years ago, their company invested in a movie and produced co-branded peripheral products, including a thermos cup that cost over 100 yuan, but few people bought it.
Xie Wanzhao temporarily put aside his shock, thought about it, opened Weibo, ignored the hot search for [Cultivator peripherals sold out overnight], searched directly for [Cultivator peripherals], and clicked real-time.
As expected, the popularity is very high, with new Weibo posts being refreshed almost every second.
Just call me Xiao Wang: [Ahhhhh you guys are too fast! I can’t even grab it! ]
Cat-Eating Fish: [Who is it!!! Who bought the last Ku Ke Zhenren Life-Size Statue? I saw there was only 1 left, but when I clicked on the purchase button, it said it was sold out. I was so pissed off!!!]
Going to bed early today: [Looking to buy the green hair crown, 1.5 times the price is acceptable]
When will the wife I'm chasing after be able to earn 10,000 yuan a day: [I got it, I got it, hahahahahahaha!! A bunch of weaklings can't even get it from me]
A strong sense of presence: [I was so angry. I went to the official website yesterday and spent a long time choosing. As a student, I could only buy one cup. I couldn’t decide whether to buy Yuanming or Xingyun Daochang. I thought I would sleep on it and choose after waking up. But when I woke up, nothing was left!!
The child wants to cry, please, is there anything you bought that you don’t want anymore, please give it to me.]
Mu Yuchen: [When I went there, most of the items were sold out. I only bought two pillows in the end. But my classmate didn’t even buy a pillow. I was a little disappointed at first, but when I found out that she didn’t buy one, I was instantly happy.]
The new Weibo posts are constantly being updated, and most of them are about showing off that they bought something, or crying about how sad they were for not being able to get one.
Xie Wanzhao works in this line of work. Just looking at those Weibo posts with different tones, sometimes crazy and sometimes insulting, you can tell that they are definitely not water armies.
She clicked on the hot search without believing it, and scrolled down, and saw a Weibo post with a huge number of likes and comments.
If you have money, just pick all the coriander: [I am dying of laughter. I just went to ask the scalper I often go to, I wanted to buy a double-wielding sword, but he not only didn't have it, he also complained to me, saying that they, the scalpers, saw that there were so many remaining around the cultivators, so they felt there was no need to stock up. But they found that they were selling very fast and there were not many left if they went to grab them.
Especially since the official website of Xiuzhe requires real-name purchase, it should be to prevent scalpers. Scalpers told me that they thought it was hilarious when they saw it before, that there were so many movie-related products in stock, and they even required real-name purchase.
As a result, they missed the opportunity to make money. The funniest thing is that when they reacted and went to buy, the dual swords were already sold out.
Then, besides me, a lot of people came to him and said they wanted to buy dual swords and were willing to pay a higher price. He is regretting it very much now. He kept saying over and over again, "I don't know why you like only one sword", "It's only been one night, how much can they buy", "Why do modern people need swords".
I think he won’t be able to sleep tonight, hahahaha.
Thanks to him, I am now so busy gloating that I don't even feel sad about not being able to buy the dual swords! ! 】
Regardless of whether they bought the product or not, almost everyone was gloating under this Weibo post.
[Laughing to death, scalpers have also suffered this day]
[Hahahaha, don’t mention the scalpers, I’m also surprised. I saw a video of an interview with Mr. Sheng, who said he didn’t expect everyone’s purchasing power to be so strong. He called the manufacturer early in the morning and was working overtime to produce the second batch.]
[I watched that video too. When Sheng Quan said she was going to buy a double-wielding sword to play with at home, but she couldn't get it from anyone, her expression really made me laugh to death]
[The scalpers can rest in peace now. Even Mr. Sheng couldn't get the double swords! ]
[Come on, who in modern times can resist a pair of dual swords?]
[Hahahahaha, my scalper is almost the same. When I went to buy from him, he said he was out of stock. Although he didn't say much to me, I could see his frustration from those few words.]
[Thank you, cultivators, thank you, mortals, finally someone can control the scalpers]
Xie Wanzhao was a little confused at the end, and after searching on Baidu he found out that "mortal" is the self-proclaimed name of fans of "The Cultivator", because in this movie, the faith of mortals can be transformed into spiritual energy by the cultivators.
In other words, these fans who have seen the movie are willing to put their faith in it just like the mortals in the movie.
Even if Xie Wanzhao has not watched "The Cultivator", he can see from this self-proclaimed title the love and enthusiasm these fans have for it.
They are even willing to buy peripheral products.
If they can't buy it, they are willing to buy it from scalpers at a high price.
Xie Wanzhao: I don’t understand this world anymore.
The domestic film-related industry has always been half-dead because of its late development and slow progress. Chinese audiences have also always been unwilling to spend money on it.
It's really laughable that until last year, the best-selling movie peripherals were all cartoons.
They are called peripheral products, but in fact they are just ordinary dolls, cups and pillows. There are basically no products that cost more than two hundred yuan, because they cannot be sold if they cost more than two hundred yuan.
This kind of phenomenon where a large number of audiences are so enthusiastically rushing to buy expensive peripheral products is almost never seen in the history of Chinese cinema.
Xie Wanzhao's assistant thought it was understandable: "It might be a passionate purchase. In the past, peripheral products of other movies were pre-sold, which took a long time. The peripheral products of "The Cultivator" are all in stock. They are sold when the audience likes it the most, which does lead to passionate purchases."
He predicted: "There will definitely be a wave of returns in the next seven days."
In addition, since spot goods can be returned, a wave of returns will definitely occur.
Xie Wanzhao also agreed with his guess.
Then seven days later, netizens who had basically received all the peripherals they bought really gathered together into a trend.
But it’s not a wave of returns.
It's a boasting trend.
[I was shocked when I got it! Such texture! Such details! Is this really something I can buy for 288! ]
[I didn't expect the quality of the peripherals to be very good. People who buy them often know that peripherals are just a bunch of weeds painted with gold edges at a large cost. As a result, the cup I bought this time really shocked me. It looks so high-end, and it is more beautiful and exquisite than the cup I bought for 80 yuan. It is so conscientious that it is shocking.]
【Oh my god! ! I regretted spending 888 to buy the figure, but I couldn't bear to return it after I got it. It's really too detailed! The long legs, the clothes, the look, ahhhh! I still regret not buying another Qingqingjun! 】
[Look at my Taoist Priest Xingyun, he is so handsome, really so handsome, his hormones are so handsome, where did the crew dig out Jiang Zhen from, why is he so popular now!!]
[Jiang fans are crying. I was late when I bought it, and I didn’t even get a strand of Taoist Xingyun’s hair. But I did buy a pencil case, which is much more useful than my previous one! I put a photo of Jiang Zhen in it! ]
Audiences who enthusiastically buy peripheral products may indeed regret it, but when they hold the real things in their hands, they will be pleasantly surprised to find that these peripheral products are of good quality and appearance, and it is really worth buying them at this price.
Of course, not everyone chooses not to return the goods. Some people do choose to return the goods, and then as soon as they return to the warehouse, they are immediately bought again.
Xie Wanzhao: “…”
She even saw someone complaining in the comment section:
"I knew there would be people who would return the product out of passion, so I kept waiting on the official website. It turned out that there were so many people who had the same idea as me! I looked for it more than a dozen times, but I didn't get it once!"
Someone else replied: "Don't mention it. I waited a few times but my hands were too slow, so I went to a second-hand website. The result was outrageous. Almost every item that was put up was sold out in seconds. We are all human, can you give me a chance?!"
Everyone, like Xie Wanzhao, who wanted to make fun of Sheng Quan, lost interest.
It hasn't been long since then, and the total sales of peripheral products of "The Cultivator" has exceeded 100 million.
And more people are joining in the movie-watching, and in the future more "ordinary people" will continue to join the purchasing team.
Anyone can see that Sheng Quan is making a lot of money.
The risk she took when investing has now completely turned into huge profits, and the sales of peripheral products will also become a long-lasting source of funds for Star Entertainment.
There is another point that Xie Wanzhao has not forgotten. The real location used for filming was built by Sheng Quan on the land that belonged to her.
Just as many people said she was a spendthrift in the beginning, so many people are now frantically calculating in their hearts, figuring out how much profit the "Ten Immortal Palaces" will bring to Sheng Quan with the huge popularity of "The Cultivator".
Xie Wanzhao was in a complicated mood.
As a profit-seeking businessman, she instinctively rejected Sheng Quan who was blocking her way to make money.
As for herself, she couldn't help but admire Sheng Quan.
Xie Wanzhao knew that the success of "The Cultivator" not only hindered this time's "The Iron-Blooded Boss". According to Sheng Quan's current attitude, there will definitely be a second and third "The Cultivator" in the future.
And if producers who are used to the Chinese market do not want to be severely crushed, the previous way of making movies that can easily make money will be completely eliminated.
The reason is simple.
A fruit that has been left for several days and is a little wilted. Diners have no choice but to eat it when there is no other food source. After eating and paying, they will also say: Not bad, it supplements vitamins.
But what if next to this fruit there is a plate of freshly picked, juicy and tender fruit?
Xie Wanzhao felt threatened almost immediately.
There are two paths before her.
1: Don’t be a wilted fruit, strive to become a fresh fruit, but this requires more effort and energy than before, and is also more likely to fail.
Second: If fresh fruits are driven out of the market, customers will have no choice but to choose wilted fruits.
Xie Wanzhao knew she should choose 2.
Her reason urged her to do so.
But for some reason, she was reluctant to take action.
Xie Wanzhao rarely hesitated as much as he did now, and rarely could he explain clearly what he was hesitating and tangled about as he did now.
Until she flew abroad to discuss cooperation.
After a tiring business dinner, the driver drove her back to the hotel. On the way, she suddenly saw the billboard of the cinema.
She was slightly startled: "The Cultivator is being shown overseas?"
Assistant No. 2, who had just been promoted and was a little nervous about going on a business trip for the first time, quickly replied: "Yes, it was just released a day ago."
——The box office and word of mouth are particularly good.
He didn't say this, after all, "The Cultivator" was also their rival.
Assistant No. 2, who was very sensible, was secretly giving himself a thumbs up in his heart when he heard Mr. Xie next to him say, "Stop the car."
"Let's see if we can get tickets. Let's go in and take a look."
It was so difficult to buy tickets, and the assistant called someone inside the theater to get three tickets.
The driver was arranged by the partner. He knew that he still had his ticket. He looked like he wanted to refuse, but he finally took it and muttered in his own language: "I have never seen a Chinese movie."
He spoke in a very low voice, and he was several steps behind Xie Wanzhao when he spoke. Xie Wanzhao should not have been able to hear it, but unfortunately, she had very sharp ears.
Although it was just a small murmur, and it was about someone else's "Cultivator", Xie Wanzhao's mood still became a little worse.
She knew that the driver didn't look down on China, but Chinese movies have indeed become more and more mediocre in recent years.
Even those that have exploded at the box office are basically comedies. There are basically few special effects blockbusters that do not exist in the real world in China, and even if there are, they are not as good as foreign films of the same period.
It's no wonder that people don't want to watch it. Even she, although she invested in the movie, would never step into the cinema except for the preview.
After entering the cinema, Xie Wanzhao was slightly shocked by the huge crowds of foreign audiences who were almost full in the theater.
So many viewers? How could a fantasy film like "The Cultivator" have such a high attendance rate in foreign countries? After she sat down, she could still hear the sound of conversation next to her.
"I think we should still watch a horror movie. We can't waste such a good night."
"Zhang said this one is very nice, maybe you will like it more."
"Come on, I've seen the trailer, isn't it just Chinese myths and legends? I'm not interested in these, surely only Asians can understand them. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even step foot in here."
The blonde girl had no choice but to promise her boyfriend: "Okay, if it doesn't look good later, we'll go out and buy a new ticket for Bloody Doll."
As they were talking, the movie started.
Xie Wanzhao quickly immersed himself in the world of movies and completely forgot about the foreign couple.
It was not until the end of the movie that she came to her senses and realized that the foreign couple had not left early. The foreign young man who had been reluctant to watch the movie before was now so excited that his eyes were shining.
He was saying to his girlfriend, "Honey, can we watch it again?! This is so shocking!"
The foreign youth's proposal was quickly agreed upon. Apparently, the blonde girl and her boyfriend had the same idea.
There were discussions and exclamations about the plot coming from all around. Some people decided to buy tickets to watch the movie again, while others took out their phones to call their friends and family to recommend the movie.
Xie Wanzhao walked among the crowd, listening to their various discussions.
"Does China really have flying swords?"
“Those animals are fascinating.”
"Xinli, when I saw those cultivators flying up, my eyes were swollen from crying."
"It's so beautiful, I'm going to go online and tell everyone about it."
Xie Wanzhao digested it silently, feeling mixed emotions.
In the car, she remained silent. The assistant who had just watched the movie was very excited, but when he saw his boss and remembered that "The Cultivator" was a rival, he could only be excited silently.
Soon, the car stopped in front of the hotel.
The driver got out of the car and opened the door for the two of them.
When Xie Wanzhao got off the car, the driver who had previously rejected Chinese movies suddenly said, "Madam, this movie is very attractive. I want to ask, do the beautiful scenes in the movie really exist in China? I want to go to China to see it with my own eyes. It's amazing."
Xie Wanzhao paused for a second, then raised her head and said with a smile, "Yes, those scenes were shot on location."
The driver immediately showed a happy expression, and he said with a smile: "Great, then I will find time to travel."
After getting on the bus, he stuck his head out and gave a thumbs up:
"Ma'am, thank you for treating me to a movie. This Chinese movie is really good."
He drove away and Xie Wanzhao stood there.
The assistant felt nervous when he saw her looking at the car's back without saying anything.
Director Xie came on a business trip and still heard people praising "The Cultivator". Is she angry now?
It’s over, it’s over, it’s over. He just cried and laughed so loudly. I hope Mr. Xie didn’t notice it. He doesn’t think that he is in Cao’s camp but his heart is with Han.
The assistant was just thinking about it when he suddenly heard Xie Wanzhao say, "Call back and book a theater for all employees to watch "The Cultivator."
The assistant said cautiously: "Will you leave a bad review after reading it? It might get out..."
Xie Wanzhao: "No, I won't give a bad review."
The assistant breathed a sigh of relief.
I knew it, how could a person like Mr. Xie make such a low-level mistake?
Then he heard Xie Wanzhao say, "Let them watch it carefully and give good reviews after watching it."
Assistant: “?”
Is this some new competitive tactic?
"Mr. Xie, what is the reason for us to do this?"
Xie Wanzhao smiled, because she suddenly remembered the lofty words she had said to her companions when she was young:
[One day, I will make Chinese films popular all over the world. Wait! I will let foreign films win our Chinese awards!!]
Then, she didn’t do it.
But the young, impulsive and naive Xiao Sheng seemed to have taken the first step.
Xie Wanzhao gave the answer with a smile. She felt that she had never felt so happy as she did at that moment: "Reason?"
“Because it’s a Chinese film.”
She looked at the assistant and said, "In the future, we may need fresh fruits one by one."
Xie Wanzhao strode towards the hotel entrance. She was no longer young, but at this moment, she seemed to feel new energy, and every step she took was very solid.
The assistant thought for a second, then hurriedly followed behind with his bag in hand: "Mr. Xie, I'll take you to your room to rest. Don't worry, I understand what you mean."
He was full of confidence: "After I send you off, I will go buy some fruit right away!"
(End of this chapter)