Chapter 567: What tier are you? Comparing yourself to Wei Jin? Refusing investment

Early in the morning, when Wei Jin opened his eyes, the sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was already somewhat piercing, which made him feel a bit sentimental.

As the years went by, Fu Guihua's combat power had grown stronger and stronger. Coupled with not having seen each other for over a month, the two of them had truly been wild last night, battling fiercely from past 10 o'clock until nearly two.

Gently moving aside the snow-white, lotus-root-like arms that Fu Guihua had draped over him, Wei Jin picked up his phone to take a look.

As expected, there were countless text messages and WeChat notifications.

From Han Sanping, Wang Changtian, Chen Zhiming, Ni Ni, and other acquaintances and friends in the circle.

They all expressed the same sentiment: the opening day box office for *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* had exploded!

On all the major portals, there were also a great many related reports.

"Opening day box office for *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* is astonishing, raking in 67.8 million!"

"After a year and a half, the great director Tsui Hark returns as king, dominating the summer slot!"

"Former 'Mou Girl' Ni Ni handles period costume for the first time, her look is stunning!"

"..."

Honestly, Wei Jin did not feel surprised by the opening day results of *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon*.

Relying on the energy of the three major production companies, as well as the drawing power of Tsui Hark and the main creative team, *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* had an average screen share as high as 41%, making it the undisputed number one of the summer slot.

Added to the reputation built up over these years, achieving such results was nothing but normal.

He was more concerned about the word-of-mouth online; after all, there were no shortage of examples where a flashy start led to a subsequent flop, and *Tiny Times* could be considered a textbook case.

However, perhaps because they had been poisoned by two consecutive big, terrible films, the audience was actually incredibly tolerant toward *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon*, a work that was merely up to standard, with word-of-mouth on Yinxiang Net reaching as high as 7.9 points.

Although this rating might be a bit inflated and should drop as the number of viewers increases,

regardless, this meant the film's evaluation was not low, and its subsequent box office potential was quite considerable.

"Mm~ Brother, the box office is so high~~"

Jing Tian, with sleepy eyes, hugged Wei Jin from behind, her voice revealing a touch of laziness.

"Mm, it's not bad."

Wei Jin turned around to pull the beauty into his arms, stroking her smooth, delicate body, and asked gently, "Tiantian, why don't you sleep a little longer?"

"Brother, I'm a little hungry~~"

"Then shall we get up and have breakfast?"

"But I don't want to move~~"

Watching the girl rubbing against his chest and acting spoiled, Wei Jin couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright then, I'll wash up and bring it up to you."

"Mm~~ Then you have to be quick, your little baby is about to starve to death."

"Hehe, alright~~"

Just as Wei Jin and Jing Tian were enjoying their world for two, Guo Xiaosi, who was in Shanghai, was feeling very miserable.

Because with the release of *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon*, the screen share for *Tiny Times* was squeezed tremendously, and its already lackluster box office was made even worse.

The single-day box office had avalanched to just over five million. Never mind surpassing *So Young*, whether it could cross the 500 million mark or even surpass *Left Ear* was an unknown.

Guo Xiaosi's monkey-like, thin body was almost entirely swallowed by the wide leather chair.

After a long while, he picked up the phone and dialed the number for Zhang Zhao of LeTV Pictures: "President Zhang, can you think of a way to increase the screen share? At this rate, the 500 million mark will be very difficult to reach..."

"There's no way."

Zhang Zhao on the other end of the line sighed: "Director Guo, you might not understand. The film market is just like this. Cinema chains are also very realistic; whoever can make money gets a higher screen share. *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* will likely get even higher later on."

Guo Xiaosi wasn't unaware of this logic; he just felt that with LeTV's financial strength, they could do something, so he asked tentatively:

"President Zhang, we can spend money to do PR for the cinema chains, right? Or give up some of the profit share?"

"..."

Zhang Zhao felt a bit weary. Are you crazy? Do you have no self-awareness of what tier you're in? Comparing yourself to Wei Jin? Not to mention Shanhe Cinema Line and Golden Harvest Cinema Line, which are Wei Jin's own private territory, even the cinema chains under China Film Group have Han Sanping greeting them.

Including Wanda, although they didn't participate this time, they are also staunch allies. Even over at the Shanghai New Film Association, Ren Zhonglun would definitely give face.

In other words, the top domestic cinema chains are almost all Wei Jin's allies. Who are you going to do PR with? Taking a step back, the daily box office for *Tiny Times* has already fallen to this level; is there any point in you doing PR? However, considering that everyone is currently still friendly forces and there will be future cooperation, Zhang Zhao's expression was still very tactful.

"Director Guo, the film has already achieved profitability. We should steady our pace and do a good job with the promotion for the second part; that's what's real."

"But..."

"Eh, Director Guo, I have something to attend to here, so I won't talk anymore."

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Listening to the busy signal on the phone, Guo Xiaosi's anger surged, and it took a long time for him to calm down.

After pondering for a while, he summoned his good-looking male assistant.

"Continue issuing announcements, calling on book fans and film fans to watch it a second or third time. The 500 million mark must be reached."

"Understood, President Guo."

Facts proved that sometimes one cannot underestimate the degree of fanaticism of fans, or in other words, the degree of brainlessness.

Once the "initiative" polished and packaged by Guo Xiaosi was released, a large number of fans really did respond.

That very day, the box office for *Tiny Times* began a flash of brilliance before the end, surging to 20 million.

This result left the industry dumbfounded. People always talked about fan films, but now they had truly witnessed it.

It could actually be so straightforward; it's just unclear how many days it can hold up.

At the same time, *The Crossing*, the film Han Sanping had been thinking about day and night, began production.

This should be the most anticipated film project in the entire film circle for the second half of 2013.

It was a simple opening ceremony, but the lineup was comparable to an awards show scene.

Han Sanping of China Film Group, Wang Zhonglei of Huayi Brothers, Zhang Zhao of LeTV, Li Ming of Xiaoma, and other heads of the production parties all attended in person.

Facing the media's lenses, Wu Baige stated bluntly:

"*The Crossing* is divided into two parts, upper and lower, with a total investment as high as 400 million. With the addition of super first-line powerful actors like Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Huang Xiaoming, and Song Hye-kyo, it will absolutely become the Oriental *Titanic*, an epic disaster romance film."

The industry was also like a boiling pot, with more than half of the actors and artists in the film and television circle posting online to promote *The Crossing*.

It looked as if this film had already won the box office championship, which seemed quite ridiculous.

Watching the news online, Wei Jin was thinking that when the next chairman of China Film Group takes office, they might be screwed over quite badly by old Han... The weekend ended, and Wei Jin returned to the company to continue burying himself in the film's post-production.

The post-production for the film *Star Luck* was not complicated, and the parts needing special effects were very few. Wei Jin estimated that in at most one week, he would be able to complete the rough cut.

At that time, he could hand over the remaining polishing work to the editors.

During the lunch break, he took the time to pay attention to the film market.

Relying on good word-of-mouth, *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* marched forward triumphantly, with daily box office approaching the 70 million mark, raking in 208 million in the first three days of the weekend. According to this data, wanting to refresh Tsui Hark's personal record might be unlikely, but the goal of a 600 million floor was within his grasp, and even an 800 million box office might not be able to stop it.

Even calculated at a production cost of 180 million; even though the current box office results were getting better and better, projects with such results were absolutely rare in the circle.

In this wave, China Film Group and Guangxian Media can be considered to have won by just lying there.

It's just that the summer slot is ultimately not comparable to the New Year slot, and the market potential is limited. *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon* ate its fill, but the other films suffered.

*No Man's Land* was still okay; it didn't have many screen shares left anyway. After eating the dividends of the last weekend, it took the opportunity to choose to end its run, with a final box office of 372 million.

Although in the current era, it couldn't be considered a very flashy result, it ultimately allowed Ning Hao to take a step further and enter the sequence of the 300 million director club.

The ones that were injured quite severely were *Badges of Fury* and *Blind Detective*.

The former's daily box office fell from nearly 20 million directly back to around 10 million. Currently, it has been released for 17 days, with a box office of 341 million.

The latter was even more miserable! Normally speaking, the opening weekend box office of a film should be much better than the opening day results.

But this film, influenced by both Andy Lau and *Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon*, even after entering the weekend, the daily box office only maintained around 15 million.

Currently released for 4 days, the box office was only 68.8 million. Compared to the 120 million production cost, breaking even was already hopeless.

In contrast, *Tiny Times*, because of the continued support of brainless fans, actually had its box office miraculously stabilize.

Currently released for 11 days, the box office was already approaching the 400 million mark, which made people feel very outrageous.

In the afternoon, Wei Jin received a call from Ning Hao; he wasn't planning to hold a big celebration banquet for *No Man's Land*.

For one, they had already celebrated when it passed the review earlier; for another, the leads Xu Zheng and Yu Nan were both still filming on set, so there was no need.

However, he did invite Wei Jin and Huang Bo to have a small drink in the evening, just to celebrate.

After leaving the company, Wei Jin went straight to the appointment. When he arrived at the place, he saw Huang Bo and Ning Hao already sitting in the private room.

"I say, with just us three lonely men, isn't it too boring? How about we call a few junior sisters from the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Dance Academy to liven up the atmosphere?"

"Old Wei, of course I have no opinion, it's just that I don't know if Haozi has the guts, hahaha..."

Huang Bo of course could hear that this was teasing, and his gaze toward Ning Hao was full of playfulness, while the latter had black lines all over his head.

"Bozi, you just have a hard mouth. Dare you say you weren't disciplined by Xiao Ou last time?"

"Hey, buddy, my family status is different. Xiao Ou trusts me one hundred percent."

Speaking of this, Huang Bo raised his head slightly, "Of course, mainly because my body is good, hahaha."

"Hahaha."

Huang Bo's words were too damaging, and Wei Jin couldn't help but laugh along.

After some bragging and farting, the dishes on the table were all served. The three of them chatted while drinking and eating, and the atmosphere was quite high.

It's just that Wei Jin didn't expect that while chatting, Ning Hao actually started talking about Huayi acquiring Xiaoma.

This year, Huayi's steps were very large. In the first half of the year, they launched a series of mergers and acquisitions, and the company's stock price soared very quickly.

And the Wang brothers, holding large sums of capital, set their sights on Xiaoma again.

After all, Xiaoma's production ability in the television drama field was still quite good, and they had Digital Domain; these were all sectors that could effectively improve Huayi's core competitiveness.

In addition, Huayi's new film director Gu Changwei wasn't very capable, and Zhong Lifang was also within the Wang brothers' targets.

It had to be said that Huayi Brothers chose the right timing, because according to the gambling agreement Xiaoma had previously signed with the bank, December 31st of this year was the final listing deadline.

If they couldn't complete the gambling agreement, they would almost have to buy back the shares the bank had subscribed to at a premium of about 50%, with a total price exceeding 1 billion.

Honestly, this part wasn't actually too much; Xiaoma could grit their teeth and eat it. The key was that the amount they raised was too large, far more than just the money from the bank system, more than Bona and Huayi combined before listing.

If they couldn't achieve the listing goal, those people who had been so optimistic about Xiaoma would abandon Xiaoma just as decisively when the time came.

This was too common in the capital market.

"Does Xiaoma have a decision now?"

"Mm, they still plan to list independently, but the news hasn't been announced yet."

Regarding Xiaoma's decision, Wei Jin was noncommittal.

Compared to being acquired, getting money and shares, and becoming the second-largest shareholder on Huayi's ship, the benefits brought by listing independently and mastering autonomy would of course be greater.

But correspondingly, the risks were also multiplied. It could only be said that Xiaoma's gambling nature was still too big.

It's just that he was a bit puzzled, "Senior brother, you suddenly brought this up, what do you mean?"

Ning Hao picked up his wine glass and took a sip, "Hehe, junior brother, you are a famous angel investor, and you have money and don't interfere with operations. What do you say?"

Wei Jin suddenly realized, "Good guy, senior brother, are you acting as a lobbyist for Xiaoma?"

Ning Hao waved his hand and hurriedly explained: "That can't be said, it's just that Xiaoma and the others aren't very convenient to come forward directly."

Hearing this, Wei Jin quickly understood Ning Hao's meaning.

Just like Buffett being willing to invest in a small company, no matter how much is invested, it's a huge positive.

Not to mention that he had the title of a great director more than Buffett, which belonged to professional alignment.

If he really invested in Xiaoma, it would definitely be a huge help in boosting market confidence, just like holding Huayi's stock back then.

But if they couldn't reach an agreement, and the news leaked out, the backlash would also be very large.

Therefore, letting Ning Hao, who had a good relationship with both sides, act as a middleman to pass the word was just perfect.

"Junior brother, if you are willing to invest, Xiaoma can coordinate the shares, not lower than this number, and the price and everything are negotiable..."

Looking at the number Ning Hao held up, Wei Jin was indeed a bit shocked, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head.

"Forget it, senior brother, Xiaoma's situation is different from Huayi's."

Before Huayi listed, it was already a mature entertainment company in the circle, and the scope of business involved was quite wide.

But Xiaoma's situation was too complicated. Although they had some advantages in the television drama field, the internal power struggle was too fierce, and even the chairman couldn't make a decision alone.

This kind of enterprise is very difficult to grow big, and Wei Jin didn't want to wade into muddy water.

What's more, there was less than half a year left until the final listing deadline, and Wei Jin didn't think that with his joining, he could turn the tide.

"In addition, don't listen to them bluffing, buying any original shares."

Wei Jin gave a preventive shot in advance. Over the years, the listing of Huayi, Guangxian, and Shanhe Cinema Line had created quite a few millionaires, multi-millionaires, and even billionaires.

He was also afraid that Ning Hao would get hot-headed and throw the money he had worked so hard to earn into the water.

"That won't happen, your Sister Na holds the family's financial power, she is very conservative."

Huang Bo smacked his lips: "Tsk tsk, Haozi, your family status is really worrying. How about getting some black wolfberry?"

"Hahaha."

"Get lost."

(End of chapter)