Chapter 302 Visit

In a previous life, after the mainland market was opened to Hong Kong films, there was a lot of friction between Hong Kong and mainland filmmakers, overtly and covertly.

Hong Kong films during this period did have advantages in various aspects, including understanding of commercialization, rich filming experience, Hong Kong stars having more appeal, and being sought after by employers, etc. This also leads to the arrogant attitude of Hong Kong filmmakers.

Take the co-production film regulations, for example, which are intended to encourage more opportunities for mainland actors in co-production films. But the Hong Kong film producers didn't care about this at all. They basically gave them supporting roles that didn't matter much, and some were even garbage characters.

What, you think the supporting role is too spicy? Mainland complains? Okay, is it enough for me to give you the heroine?

Since then, many Hong Kong films have been implementing a strategy, which is to hire famous mainland actresses to be the heroines. However, most of these heroines will have a tragic fate, such as being in a car accident, kidnapped, aborted, or raped. , being in a vegetative state, being mentally ill, being drugged, having legs broken...

It has really become a misfortune competition, one is more miserable than the other! I have to admire these Hong Kong screenwriters for arranging all kinds of cruel methods. There are really very few heroines with good images and good endings like Gao Yuanyuan in Cheng Long's "Baby Project".

It’s hard to tell because of the short time, but after several years in a row, all the good female roles in your movie were reserved for Hong Kong actresses, while the miserable ones were played by mainland actresses. Not to mention the insiders, even the audience Everything seems to be wrong.

Come on, you are the ones begging the mainland to open the market for you to come north to make money, but now you are acting condescending.

Not to mention that in addition to these, there are also superior treatment for Hong Kong filmmakers, grouping together to seize resources, etc. One of the more acute conflicts was the incident of Xie Biwang and Zhang Weijian beating Xiao Bailong, and the later Zhao Wenzhuo vs. Zhen Bullets are actually the product of the continuation of this contradiction.

So, if you are in the first year of junior high school, don’t blame me for being in the fifteenth year. After mainland China's local movies take off, isn't it just a dream if you want good resources and good characters? Give you young filmmakers a chance? Go play with eggs!

But now that Wu Yuchen is here, the situation is different.

First of all, the few commercial films he has made in the past few years have proven that mainland stars can also be protagonists. Even though Hong Kong Star has a halo advantage now, it is definitely not as big as in the previous life.

In this case, the management will be willing to give more opportunities to mainland actors who are of high quality and low price. Therefore, after this opening, although Hong Kong films are coming fiercely and still have advantages, they will no longer have the overwhelming advantage they had over the mainland film industry in the previous life. And the time it takes for this advantage to be erased is likely to be greatly shortened.

At the same time, Wu Yuchen's status and reputation are at stake here, and anyone in the Hong Kong circle will have to bow their heads. Moreover, we have the strong power of Miracle Film and Television and White Bear Media inserted in Hong Kong Island. When we come to our territory, it’s okay if you just restrain yourself and follow the rules. If you really make trouble and break the rules, then Wu Yuchen won’t mind killing a few. Establish authority.

After listening to Wu Yuchen's explanation, Liang Jiahui could also imagine the future of Hong Kong movies. But then he smiled heartily and said:

"It's enough to not starve to death! After all, when I make movies from now on, I no longer have to worry about being blocked, having a gun pointed at my head, being kidnapped by a society, and worrying all day long!"

Many movie fans miss the golden age of Hong Kong movies in the 1980s and 1990s, but in fact many Hong Kong actors don't miss it at all. Because the societies were so rampant in those days, their personal safety was not guaranteed.

Not to mention anything else, let’s talk about the East Weekly incident that broke out last year. Artists across Hong Kong marched against it for exposing photos of Liu Jialin being assaulted. Think about it, what could Liu Jialin and Liang Chaowei do when this kind of thing happened, other than swallowing their anger? Those people were still at large, and ten years later they were selling photos and videos for money.

This kind of thing was not an exception in that era. Others like Jet Li's agent being beaten to death, Andy Lau being forced to kneel down, Liang Jiahui being kidnapped to the Philippines, etc. are really hard to explain.

Seeing that Liang Jiahui was so open-minded, Wu Yuchen also smiled and did not continue the topic. He turned to ask: "Brother Tony, did you go to see Director Li in Los Angeles when you came here? How is he now?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Jiahui shook his hands and said: "Director Li told me that he would never make any superhero movies again! The water is too deep and he can't control it!"

Wu Yuchen laughed when he heard this: "It's not that the water is too deep, it's that he wants to make the movie too deep! He wants both business and content, which is not that easy!"

Li An's "The Incredible Hulk" was indeed a failure after its release. This large-scale production cost as much as 140 million, and the global box office has not yet reached 200 million. It will definitely not be able to recover the money from the box office alone, because there are still Due to the huge publicity expenses, even if DVDs and peripherals are included, it will take several years to slowly recover.

But this is actually a good thing for Wu Yuchen. It’s not that he is gloating about Li An’s misfortune, but it’s now easier to invest in his next movie. Now that Li An is being questioned because of "The Incredible Hulk", investors will be hesitant. Wu Yuchen can let Miracle Pictures take over his "Brokeback Mountain" when the time comes.

This movie was super profitable, with a cost of 14 million and a box office of 178 million US dollars. Ten times again, and even an Oscar! You can choose to invest in Li An's literary films without thinking, and they are basically profitable.

Liang Jiahui couldn't help but ask at this time: "Director Wu, do you still want to do "Batman"?"

The failure of "The Hulk" has naturally poured cold water on superheroes. In Liang Jiahui's opinion, if Wu Yuchen takes "Batman", he will definitely not only want box office, but also want connotation, which is what many big directors pursue. What if he follows the old path of Li An's failure?

Wu Yuchen also understood what Liang Jiahui meant, smiled and shook his head and said: "Batman is different from the Hulk."

"The Hulk's characteristics and stereotypes are too strong. The audience's hope for him is to see his violent side, see him transform, see his action scenes, see him smash, smash, smash... So the audience doesn't have much patience for him. It's difficult to strike a balance between giving him delicate emotions and profound connotations while ensuring commerciality."

"But Batman is different. He is a dark figure. He never relies on any superpowers to fight criminals. He relies on his own mind and flesh and blood. Compared with other superheroes, he is more like an ordinary person."

Wu Yuchen stopped talking and didn't say too much, but Liang Jiahui also understood a little bit. Director Wu is confident that he can balance the commercial and connotation of "Batman" and achieve what Li An can't do.

Liang Jiahui smiled at Wu Yuchen. He didn't know whether Wu Yuchen could succeed. Although Wu Yuchen's words sounded reasonable, everyone was very confident before filming and had their own logic. But Batman is none of his business. What he has to do now is to shoot Pirate King 3!

In the past few months, in addition to Li An's Hulk, several Hollywood blockbusters have been released.

First, the highly anticipated Matrix 2 has achieved great success after its release. The global box office has now exceeded 600 million and is heading towards 700 million. Everyone is looking forward to what kind of ending the third part will bring them.

In contrast, Terminator 3, which also has many fans around the world, is not so good. Although Schwarzenegger returned after 12 years, the global box office of this movie is only more than 300 million US dollars, which can't recover its production cost of up to 200 million US dollars.

Schwarzenegger happily took the salary to be his governor, but the producers can only have a headache and try their best to recover the cost from its peripherals.

However, Pixar's new animation Finding Nemo has shined brightly and has been raking in box office all over the world. It has now created a global box office of over 800 million US dollars, and it has not stopped yet.

This not only made Pixar very happy, but also excited Disney. With the help of its new president, Robert Iger, the "Smiling Mickey Mouse", Disney re-signed with Pixar. This movie also created a lot of profits for Disney, which made the stock price rise.

This also made Wu Yuchen sigh that Robert Iger is really a character. Disney has really been revitalized since he took office.

Last time, he asked Disney to help him with Oscar public relations unconditionally. Although Wu Yuchen verbally said that Disney owed him, after really winning the Oscar for Best Director, he had to admit that he had to remember the other party's kindness in his heart.

It just so happened that his Miracle Pictures was going to produce the low-cost project "The Princess Diaries". This kind of dreamy girl movie is actually the most experienced by Disney, and its publicity and distribution channels are also the most advantageous for this. Therefore, Wu Yuchen plans to let Miracle Pictures and Disney cooperate in joint development.

With Eisner's resignation and the Oscar for Best Director, his past affairs with Disney can be regarded as a chapter. This is Hollywood. There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

…

During the filming, two non-industry people came to visit.

Wu Yuchen looked at the young Ma in front of him, who was no longer as immature as he was a few years ago. He exuded a mature and steady temperament. And next to him was Zeng Liqing, who founded Tencent with him.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "If there is anything, can't we just talk on the phone? Why do we have to come all the way here?"

Ma Huateng shook his head slightly and replied with a smile, "This won't work. Since the establishment of Tencent, we have received so much help from Mr. Wu. We are about to prepare for listing. Some things must be visited by Mr. Wu in person!"

After going through the first two years of the Internet winter at the beginning of the century, Tencent grasped the SP business and began to turn losses into profits. This year, revenue and profits in all aspects are growing. All aspects have met the conditions for listing, so they don't want to wait any longer.

However, before launching the IPO, there is one thing that must be settled internally, that is, shares.

When Tencent accepted the B round of financing from White Bear Fund, it put forward a condition, that is, before going public, Tencent agreed to buy back 10% of the shares from it as an incentive stock pool for employees.

The real boss of White Bear Fund is Wu Yuchen, and Xiao Ma Ge knows this very well. Although it was written in black and white in the contract, it would be too offensive to act completely according to the cold contract. Naturally, they have to visit them in person, show a good attitude, and make this matter clear in person.

Wu Yuchen actually knew their intentions and smiled and said to them: "Do you think I am so ignorant of the overall situation that I would embarrass you at this time?"

Zeng Liqing quickly explained: "No, no! Mr. Wu, it's just because the listing is too important to the company, and you are the largest shareholder of the company, we must make it clear to you. And it is also the obligation of our management to establish a good relationship with the major shareholder~"

"Hahaha, don't worry, I am still very satisfied with your management, and I will not interfere with the operation of the company unless necessary. This 10% of the shares, according to what you said, is 250 million Hong Kong dollars."

In the last round of financing, White Bear Fund raised 25% of the shares with 10 million US dollars, but now Tencent's total asset valuation is between 2.5-3 billion, and it is natural to take back 10% of the shares according to the current situation.

Ma Huateng also thanked him after hearing this: "Thank you Mr. Wu for your trust and understanding, we will definitely not let you down, and we will definitely be successfully listed in Hong Kong Island this time!"

Wu Yuchen patted Xiao Ma Ge on the shoulder: "Do it boldly, I support you!"

He was still relatively relieved about Xiao Ma Ge. What about Liu Dongzi who doesn't know his wife is beautiful, Wang Xiaomu who has nothing, and Jack Ma who regrets founding Alibaba? Why are they all pretending? How can they be as mature and stable as our "ordinary family" Xiao Ma!

Penguin has developed to this stage and it is time to start a new journey!

However, Tencent's upcoming preparations for listing in Hong Kong have not become the core focus. Who is the most watched person in the domestic Internet circle now? It is Ding Sanshi of NetEase!

NetEase's stock price has been rising since last year, and it has risen 100 times from the low point. Ding Sanshi's net worth has therefore exceeded 1 billion US dollars, making him the richest man in mainland China in public.

Yes, in public. In fact, many rich people keep a low profile and don't want to announce their wealth at all, such as Wu Yuchen.

Apart from Ding Sanshi, Sohu and Sina also surged with this spring breeze, and Shanda, which is preparing to go public on NASDAQ, has already claimed a market value of 10 billion. These entrepreneurs in Beijing and Shanghai are the real star players, and they play on high-end US servers. It’s no big deal for the little penguin in Shencheng Fishing Port to land on the Hong Kong server!

In fact, Wu Yuchen is happy to see this situation. It’s good to be low-key. The little penguin needs to be low-key, so that there is enough time to develop. After 10 years, it will be almost fully grown.