Chapter 627: The Colossus

Huayi's basic situation is easy to find out; as a listed company, many of its moves are public, and we're just waiting for them to act.

Given Huayi's current situation, they cannot afford to stay idle—they need Feng Kuzi to produce films for them and need stars to create value for them.

Many stars are now going solo to start their own studios or have been poached by other agencies.

In this era of capital invasion, with everyone now producing films and TV dramas, Huayi is no longer the top choice.

Take Zhao Xiaodao, who recently became hugely popular again due to "Bai Zihua."

The drama's premiere ratings broke 1%, its average rating across all episodes reached 2.123%, and its highest single-episode rating surpassed 3%, firmly holding first place nationwide during its timeslot.

Total online views exceeded 20 billion, setting a new record for domestic TV dramas.

On trending lists, "Bai Zihua" and "Sha Qianmo" frequently appeared on Weibo's hot topics; even the drama's catchphrase "Primordial Force" became a viral meme, even cited by official media.

This drama can be called the benchmark of xianxia dramas, sparking a xianxia craze; soon after, xianxia dramas like "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" and "The Legend of Mi Yue" were rapidly greenlit.

Zhao Xiaodao's endorsement deals have surged, becoming the face of over twenty international brands including Dior, Longines, and Dove, and she has become the very definition of "National Sweetheart."

In just one or two months, Yutu Entertainment's talent division netted over 100 million in profit; she also made it onto the Forbes China Celebrity List at number thirteen, right after Liu Tianxian, rising from a flow girl to one of the top 85 idols.

Da Mimi and Da Baobei now have another fierce rival; of course, online there are always people slandering her—fame brings controversy.

The male lead of the same drama, Zhang Zhiyao, has also experienced a resurgence in popularity, but his value is still less than Zhao Xiaodao's.

Because Zhao Xiaodao is so popular, she wants to start her own studio and go solo; she's been with Yutu for many years, and Fang Hong hasn't voiced an opinion yet—this matter is still in the planning stage.

The production cost of "Bai Zihua" was around 170 million yuan; the TV broadcast rights were also about 150 million yuan.

The online rights were even pricier: exclusive rights reached 300 million yuan, and the producer could also receive 50% of the pre-roll advertising revenue, which amounted to tens of millions.

Not just that—mobile game and merchandise revenue sharing was roughly 20 million yuan; overseas rights for Netflix, YouTube, and multiple Southeast Asian TV networks were also worth tens of millions.

The drama's conservative net profit is estimated at 300 to 400 million yuan!

It outshines even a high-grossing film; a movie would need at least 1.5 billion yuan in box office to achieve such profit after accounting for production costs.

It's easy to see that the value of TV dramas has now caught up to that of films.

No wonder all those big-name film stars are now turning to TV dramas.

Not only "Bai Zihua," but recently "Wu Xin: The Monster Killer," "The Lost Tomb," and others also became massive hits this summer, making new-generation actors like Han Dongjun, Chen Yao, Jin Chen, and Yang Yang popular.

Not only are domestic films booming, but domestic TV dramas are booming too.

The film market has continued along its established box office trajectory, with no major upsets occurring.

In early August, "Monster Hunt" maintained its lead, with total ticket sales reaching 1.851 billion yuan in 20 days, ranking first in the summer season.

It still earns 20 to 30 million yuan daily, and on weekends it can hit 40 million; Fang Hong didn't interfere with this movie, letting them earn as much as they could.

Jiang Zhiqiang also fulfilled his earlier promise, bringing Yutu in as a joint venture partner, granting them 20% equity—in exchange for capital, he invested roughly 150 million yuan.

Anle Cinemas are few, but all located in prime areas with high-end facilities, and now with high box office potential, 150 million yuan is enough!

"The Monkey King: Hero Is Back" has been in theaters for 26 days with total box office of 1.29 billion yuan, over 300 million yuan more than its previous run.

Of course, it still can't surpass "Monster Hunt"; now "The Monkey King: Hero Is Back" is sluggish, failing to reach even 10 million yuan daily.

"The Witness" has been out for about ten days with total box office of 740 million yuan, and it's also slowing down, now earning only 20 to 30 million yuan daily—its early surge was strong.

During this period, "The Big Bang" barely crossed 1 billion yuan and still earns around 10 million yuan daily.

This film has held up well; clearly, broad promotional channels and strong execution still offer advantages, though Da Peng also worked tirelessly, visiting nearly every cinema nationwide.

He just kept running, kept doing roadshows; few people are as hardworking as he is.

But his pressure is immense; for someone at Fang Hong's level, losing money on one or two films doesn't matter, but for him, it's fatal.

Losing money is minor; what's serious is that no one will invest in him or believe in him again.

Based on current box office performance and this trend, "Monster Hunt" will become the summer season's box office champion.

It all depends on how much they inflate it and to what extent.

Although the authorities now demand box office transparency, ticket padding is still possible—genuine ticket purchases and genuine attendance are just a matter of money, though the threshold is higher.

One day, Fang Hong invited Jiang Zhiqiang and Wu Kebo to his home for a meeting—the general manager of Orange Sky Golden Harvest.

This meeting was both a business matter and a social visit.

Previously, Fang Hong had asked Jiang Zhiqiang to persuade Wu Kebo to sell his cinema chain.

Coincidentally, Liu Tianxian, Liu Xiaoli, and others were also there; Liu Xiaoli had come to visit and happened to meet them.

The four sat in a pavilion, with bamboo tables and chairs, surrounded by neatly arranged, lush greenery, tastefully landscaped.

The scenery was beautiful, the sunlight warm, and the atmosphere very pleasant.

"The scenery here is quite nice," Jiang Zhiqiang said, looking around at the emerald grass.

"Xixi put a lot of thought into this," Fang Hong said.

"Oh really?" Jiang Zhiqiang feigned surprise and looked at Liu Tianxian.

This pleased Liu Tianxian greatly; she laughed: "Not really, I just had nothing else to do, so I tidied up a bit."

"That's enough—it's clear Yifei is someone who understands and enjoys life," Jiang Zhiqiang praised.

Wu Kebo nodded in agreement; he wore glasses, was middle-aged, with a small tuft of beard under his chin, quite distinguished.

It was his first time meeting the Principal, and he felt deeply moved.

Ten years ago, they were competing with Huayi, even poaching many of Huayi's artists, but their production capabilities were weak, lacking standout works, and they eventually failed and withdrew.

Now the situation has reversed: the rising star Yutu is competing with Huayi and driving them to collapse.

It's simply because Huayi lacks standout works—in this industry, competition still depends on the quality of the works.

"Actually, when I first arranged it, I was quite satisfied, but after looking at it for a while, I want to rearrange it again," Liu Tianxian smiled lightly.

"That's true—anything viewed too long becomes boring. Just don't get bored with the Principal, or it'll be bad," Jiang Zhiqiang laughed.

"I won't. He's still very good-looking," Liu Tianxian said, leaning her face close to his.

Fang Hong smiled and gently pushed her forehead.

The others all chuckled; with her here, the atmosphere was always lively and cheerful.

If it's just the Principal, it would seem too dull.

Jiang Zhiqiang turned to Liu Xiaoli, who had been silent beside him, and said: "We haven't seen each other in many years."

"It's been several years already—time flies so fast," Liu Xiaoli sighed.

"Yes!" Jiang Zhiqiang nodded.

At that moment, Xu Liyun brought a plate of melons and fruits and placed it on the bamboo table, gesturing for them to help themselves.

"Mom, aren't you going to watch TV?" Liu Tianxian asked.

"I haven't finished watching 'Qian Gu' yet—I need to catch up," Xu Liyun said.

"Then when you're done, tell me the plot," Liu Tianxian said.

Currently, 'Qian Gu' has reached episodes 37 to 38.

"Alright, you all chat," Xu Liyun signaled.

After she left, Liu Tianxian said: "My mother-in-law loves TV dramas, especially idol dramas—now she's obsessed with xianxia dramas."

"Then your mother-in-law must be a very emotional and gentle person," Wu Kebo said, finding the girl's personality pleasant and joining the conversation.

"Yes, she always cries when something touching happens, and I end up crying too," Liu Tianxian chuckled.

The group chatted and laughed, the atmosphere lively; Fang Hong said little, waiting for the real business to begin.

Liu Xiaoli spoke only briefly when addressed, and generally stayed quiet.

"Principal, Wu General Manager spoke with me—he intends to exit the Neidi market and shift business focus to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. If you want to acquire their cinema chain division, you'll need to negotiate directly," Jiang Zhiqiang said.

Hearing they were discussing business, the others fell silent; Liu Tianxian peeled fruit for everyone.

"Oh, the Neidi film market is booming—Wu General Manager's decision to exit is a pity," Fang Hong ventured.

"To be honest, although the film market is hot now, competition is fierce too—annual rent, labor costs, especially in first-tier cities, are substantial expenses, plus equipment upgrades require continuous investment."

"Lately, authorities have cracked down on box-office fraud, squeezing our cinema's survival space."

Wu Kebo didn't hide anything—he genuinely wanted to sell; Orange Sky Golden Harvest carried heavy debt and had no choice but to urgently raise capital to repay it.

Indeed, without content advantages like Orange Sky Golden Harvest, and with box-office transparency, there's no way to skim profits anymore.

In the past, kickbacks and fake box-office figures let their cinemas profit from both sides—but now it's getting harder and harder.

Moreover, many of Golden Harvest's cinemas are over ten years old; though their locations are good, they're all outdated, requiring another huge sum for upgrades and maintenance.

Now everything's IMAX, 3D, laser—none of it's cheap.

"That's true—how many cinemas do you have in Neidi?" Fang Hong asked.

"Seventy-six cinemas, five hundred and thirty-one screens!" Wu Kebo said.

The number of screens is quite high—no wonder they can't afford to maintain them. Previously, Yutu plus Bona's ninety-three cinemas only had six hundred and fifty-one screens.

If acquired, Yutu would have 169 cinemas and 1,182 screens—breaking the thousand-screen mark.

Huaxia United, ranked tenth, has only 134 cinemas and 752 screens.

Ninth is Xingfu Lanhai with 128 cinemas and 798 screens; eighth is Zhejiang Times with 185 cinemas and 1,037 screens.

If acquired, it would be roughly at the eighth-place level.

Cinema chain rankings are calculated by market share—Wanda Cinema Line has 292 cinemas and 2,557 screens; Dadi Cinema Lines has 596 cinemas and 2,932 screens.

Wanda Cinema Line holds over 13% market share, making it the largest and number-one cinema brand in China, because Wanda operates mainly in first- and second-tier cities, where more people go to the movies and market share is higher.

Market penetration into lower-tier cities is something for the next few years.

The next few years will be a wave of cinema acquisitions; many small and medium cinemas will be bought and restructured.

This year, there are 6,200 cinemas nationwide and over thirty thousand screens, many of them small and medium-sized.

"What about your overseas assets—do you bundle them?" Fang Hong asked again; Orange Sky Golden Harvest still had many overseas cinemas.

"Not for now—if I decide to sell, we'll talk again," Wu Kebo waved off, planning to sell overseas cinema assets only if operations become unsustainable.

If they perform well, they'll keep operating.

In his past life, Dadi Cinema Lines acquired Orange Sky Golden Harvest's overseas cinemas in 2020 for $530 million—not cheap.

But soon after buying, they faced a cash crisis and mortgaged them to creditors.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest's assets aren't limited to Neidi—there are cinemas in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and many other parts of Southeast Asia, with several to even ten or twenty cinemas per location.

Golden Harvest's former glory needs no elaboration—back then, Hong Kong films sold across all of Asia, so they opened cinemas everywhere.

Just like Yutu, Huayi, and Bona all have their own cinema chains.

Orange Sky is the company that received the entirety of Golden Harvest's cinema assets; Neidi is only part of Golden Harvest.

That means Fang Hong is buying only part of Golden Harvest's original assets, and Orange Sky itself only holds part of Golden Harvest's original assets.

The films weren't transferred—Golden Harvest's roughly six hundred film copyrights were split among Media Asia, Emperor, Fang Long, and other companies and individuals.

They were also dispersed to overseas Warner, Netflix, Amazon, and others.

This is only part of it—there are also many properties; Golden Harvest Building was sold to Jihui Capital, and the Hong Kong Mong Kok cinema property is still being sold.

One can imagine how massive Golden Harvest once was—selling these assets allowed Golden Harvest to cash out nearly ten billion Hong Kong dollars.

At the time, the Hong Kong dollar was pegged one-to-one with the US dollar, and this doesn't even count the separate sales of film copyrights, which can't be quantified.

(End of Chapter)