Chapter 1960 The Beginning of the Mainland Box Office

After talking to Tan Guofu and putting down the phone, Yin Jun looked at the information prepared by Ye Linqinwa.

This girl has a natural talent for languages, and she has mastered Chinese square characters very well within a few months.

Now she is already able to handle various documents skillfully, organize various materials according to Yin Jun's needs, and summarize them before Yin Jun's case.

This time when he came to Shanghai, the young man also brought Ye Linqinwa with him.

She has been waiting in her room for phone calls and faxes since the afternoon.

Just one hour after the summary time, the "Kilin Mainland Theater Box Office Total" that the teenager wanted to see most has been compiled.

Ye Linqinwa is quite as rigorous as an engineering student.

Not only did she organize the data, she also used pens of various colors to create a graphic table so that Yin Jun could see it more clearly.

Today is the first day of official business for Kirin Mainland Cinemas.

At the Kirin Cinema in the 8-block Kirin Commercial Plaza, a total of two movies were shown. As of 10 o'clock, they had shown 5 shows, with a total box office of 40,000 yuan.

The first one is "Raiders of the Lost Ark 1" and the second one is "Police Academy 1".

The first "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was produced six years ago, and the third one was filmed this year.

No matter how profitable "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is, no matter how classic it is, after 6 years, the copyright is not that valuable anymore.

Not to mention that the copyright purchased by Yin Jun is only for mainland China.

George Lucas knew little about this barren land and cared little for it.

After Yin Jun proposed a package price of an average of one million US dollars per movie to buy the 20-year mainland China copyright for these Lucasfilm films, he agreed without thinking.

Therefore, whether it is "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or the "Star Wars" series, whether they are released now or in the future, Yin Jun has obtained the copyright.

This purchase agreement will not expire until 2000, and the price of $1 million will not change.

However, the agreement also stipulates that the film must be released in mainland China one year after its release.

Then this copyright is limited to theaters. If it is to produce video tapes and other peripheral products, then Lucasfilm also enjoys a 50% share right.

This share is higher than ordinary, but it involves business, and this is the reality of Lucas.

Presumably, it was because he knew that video tapes were not very popular in China that he proposed such a sky-high share price.

Anyway, it’s better than nothing.

Compared with these illusory things, the copyright of more than 10 million US dollars is still interesting.

When buying Lucasfilm's movies, Yin Jun was generous. However, when buying the movie libraries of the other six major Hollywood companies and small and medium-sized companies, the negotiators sent by Yin Jun seemed to be a little too cautious.

But everyone is the same as Lucas. They are not very interested in such a poor and backward place in mainland China.

Copyrights that could not be sold before can now be sold for hundreds of thousands, millions or even tens of millions. What a windfall.

After such negotiations, the North American branch of Kirin Group spent more than 200 million US dollars and purchased more than 500 movies in total.

Now these films are all sitting in the Broadcasting Bureau, awaiting various censorships.

Although Yin Jun has already made a request for the procurement specialists to purchase movies suitable for mainland China, it does not mean that all these movies can pass the test now.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is one of the movies that has passed the review.

Compared with those movies in the United States, the review process for movies shot by Hong Kong compatriots is much more relaxed. A slightly cheap movie like "Police Academy" also passed the inspection smoothly.

According to Yin Jun's estimation, at least 300 movies purchased from the United States can pass the inspection, and 400 movies are not impossible.

Of course, it is impossible for all of the hundreds of old movies to be screened in Kirin Cinemas. The ones that Kylin Cinemas will broadcast must be the best-looking movies. This is a need for brand building.

Besides, Kirin Cinemas currently only has 8 cinemas with a total of 7,200 locations. If we follow the usual rules and show a movie for a month, it will really be impossible to finish it in decades.

Not to mention there are hundreds of Hong Kong movies waiting.

Therefore, Yin Jun plans to sell these old movies, whether they are from the United States or Hong Kong, to the mainland cinema system in the future.

According to the old rules, every recent movie must be more expensive, so we only sell copies to them, about 2,000-3,000 copies.

But it’s not appropriate for these old movies to sell so much anymore. Gan Guoliang mentioned to Yin Jun that a movie could sell for about 10 million.

In the 1980s, there were many movie theaters across the country, including all larger towns and villages. Some provincial capital cities had five or six movie theaters. At least the number was more than 20,000 movie theaters.

At this price, even if copying and translation costs are included, the total cost will not exceed 15 million.

The cost of copying distributed to each company is only 750 yuan.

In 1985, the average movie ticket price in big cities was around 5 cents, and in small towns was around 2 cents, but they all had more than 1,000 seats.

At least 5 shows can be played in a day. Even if the attendance rate is only half, it is almost 1,000 yuan in movie ticket revenue. ——In the 1980s, people had no other entertainment activities. Going to the movies was very fashionable. It was not unusual for the cinemas to be always full.

After playing normally for half a month, the movie ticket income is 15,000. After excluding all screening, cleaning and maintenance, labor wages, etc., the net profit of 10,000 is more than enough.

On average, a movie theater can make a net profit of more than 20,000 yuan a month. What can't they do?

However, 10 million yuan is only 10 US dollars according to the market price, which is far from the purchase price.

This part of the loss must be borne by Yin Junlai.

Firstly, it is to develop the habit of watching movies among mainland people, and secondly, Yin Jun is doing good things.

Now that we are so rich, what’s wrong with me asking my compatriots from the mainland to watch more good movies?

If they don't watch movies now, in 30 years, where will new audiences be willing to join and contribute more than 5 billion yuan in box office to excellent movies like "Wolf Warrior 2"?

The films mentioned above are old films, most of which Kirin Cinemas is not planning to release on its own, so it is a one-time deal.

When it comes to the good films that Kirin Cinema wants to release, they have to follow the rules.

Kirin Cinema will play each movie according to its freshness, excitement, etc., while also selling it to the movie system.

It’s not a fixed price, but 2,000-3,000 copies sold for 10,000 yuan each.

Two years ago, the cost price of a copy was still 2,500 Hong Kong dollars. However, due to the continuous promotion of technology, various cost savings, and the continuous increase in the number of copies produced, the cost has dropped to 1,500 Hong Kong dollars.

Don't doubt it, it's just that cheap.

The United States makes tens of thousands of copies at every turn, which means high production costs and high profits - think about it, according to the working attitude and efficiency of Americans, especially in the field of industrial factories, five people can compare. A hardworking Chinese?

Then the more expensive copies are 3D and IMAX copies. It is normal for those costs to be high.

But now the cost of film copying can be reduced to 1,500, which can be regarded as the proud work of Qilin Copying Company.

In this way, for every copy of the movie sold to the mainland cinema system, Qilin Films can basically earn HK$20 million.

Compared with the mainland's huge market of 1.3 billion people, this price is simply a huge loss.

But when you think about the current closed state of the mainland, a profit of 20 million Hong Kong dollars is still a good supplement.

It's just a little regrettable that they paid the 20 million Hong Kong dollars here in RMB. After all, they are not so rich that they have to use foreign currency to buy movie copyright copies.

It would be fine if all the money was from Kirin Films, but for so many films in Hong Kong, when Kirin Films introduced them to the mainland, they collected a 20% distribution fee, and the rest of the money had to be paid to them in Hong Kong dollars.

Therefore, this exchange rate loss was also borne by Qilin Films.

no way.

In order to satisfy the markets of Xiangjiang Film and Huaguo, so that both parties can profit harmoniously, Yin Jun's current loss is necessary and meaningful.

Only by letting them see that they can make money in the mainland market and cultivate more movie fans will Hong Kong movies become closer to the mainland.

Only by allowing mainland movie fans to see more Hong Kong movies of the same origin can they like Hong Kong movies more, thereby cultivating their sense of belonging to Hong Kong movies.

For example, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Police Academy 1" released today, because they were both movies a few years ago, Kylin Culture Huajing Branch sold 2,000 copies, and the rest were left to major movies The studios went to make their own copies to make money.

The following movie theaters that get various copies can also make profits at low costs.

But Kirin Culture also has a requirement, that is, 2,000 copies will not be provided to them until 2 weeks after it has been released in Kirin Cinema.

To put it bluntly, this is to prevent piracy and allow Kirin Cinema to have enough time to develop its own cinema - the latest and best movies, only we are showing them in the first two weeks, even if they are a little more expensive, if you like Moviegoers will also come to take care of business.

This is also the main reason why today, at a high price of 1 yuan, it can be sold for 40,000 yuan.

After all, there is no place for such a blockbuster movie to be released elsewhere!

The total box office result of 40,000 yuan a day, let alone 30 years later, would make people laugh out loud even in today's Hong Kong.

But the situation in the Mainland is different. The film market here is not at all as formal as it would be 30 years ago. It’s really good to have such a start.

So when Yin Jun saw the total box office of 40,000 yuan, he felt excited that he had "finally taken the first step."

Seven years after moving to Xiangjiang, I finally had the opportunity to start building my own film and television empire in the Mainland!