Chapter 845 Persuasion

Shen Xudong didn't lie, he did make an appointment with Lao Wang.

Wang Jianlin…

Lao Wang acquired the AMC theater chain, and the next step will definitely be to focus on the upstream production of the film industry...

This thing is like a lice on a monk's head - it's obvious.

Anyone who wants to expand in the entertainment industry is thinking about the development of the entire industry chain. The so-called entire industry chain refers to film investment, production, distribution, theater chains and theater business.

Therefore, Tianmei Media is the leading entertainment stock in the mainland!

Except for theater chains and movie theater business, they are number one in all other fields, not to mention that they also have PPTV.

Wanda's current terminal layout has taken shape, and the next step is naturally upstream film and television production.

Learn from Tianmei Media, sign a few directors, and accumulate energy bit by bit?

too slow!

Moreover, Wanda does not have a visionary leader like Shen Xudong. Even if there is, Wang Jianlin is just like Ma Yun, believing more in institutions and systems rather than people...

Therefore, Brother Song left Wanda, and Dong Ping also left Ali Pictures...

Brother Song is the general manager of Wanda Pictures, and he had a conflict with Wang Jianlin's business philosophy without even getting excited...

Brother Song once suggested that Wang Jianlin use Wanda Cinema's leading position in the theater chain to attract first-class agents such as Wang Jinghua, and then hire Zhang Yimou, Zheng Xiaolong and other great directors to form a group of producers, agents, theaters, etc. An integrated trust organization…

——Trying to use 1 billion to acquire top domestic directors and agencies.

However, Lao Wang looked down upon this profit: Your annual movie profits are only tens of millions, what’s the point of such a company?

Moreover, Wanda's process is particularly cumbersome. In the original time and space, due to process problems, Song Ge missed "囧" and was picked up by Wang Changtian; he missed Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and was snatched away by Huayi; he wanted to poach Huayi Chen Guofu, a senior film trader, and Wang Jianlin did not agree.

In anger, Brother Song resigned and left.

He had no shortage of capital or connections, so he quickly set up his own business, established a Ferris wheel company, and operated "My Deskmate" and "Heart Blossoms", and once again made a lot of money.

Bringing it back, although Lao Wang has now rejected Brother Song's proposal, this matter has reminded Lao Wang that Comrade Lao Wang is looking at the world and aims at Hollywood, spending huge sums of money to buy AMC and Legendary Pictures...

Of course, he hasn't bought Legendary Pictures yet, he wants the whole big news!

Want to buy a large global company, such as Paramount, MGM or DreamWorks Animation...

Well, DreamWorks Animation wasn't part of his plans - only the Big Six are truly global studios, and none of the others are. This is a necessary step if we want to build a true film empire...

He is Shen Xudong through Cao Hua Yiyue...

The four major investors of Xinli Media are Cao Huayi himself, Enlight Media, Wangda Film and Television, and Tianmei Media...

…

When he arrived at the appointed restaurant, Lao Wang was already waiting for him, chatting while eating.

Going directly to the topic without any nonsense, Lao Wang asked: "I want to invest in MGM, what do you think?"

"Not very good!" Shen Xudong answered seriously: "At this stage, the North American film market is firmly dominated by six major companies, NBCUniversal's Universal Pictures, ViacomCBS's Paramount Pictures, Time Warner and Warner Bros. Pictures , Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment, and News Corporation’s 20th Century Fox...these six companies account for 80% of North America’s share and have global distribution systems!”

"After MGM was privatized, it made a turnaround with two "007" movies and the "Hobbit" trilogy... But it still carries US$4 billion in foreign debt... Moreover, even if you acquire it, it will be very difficult. It’s hard to get the copyright for “007”!”

Lao Wang was very curious: "Why?"

"In 2009, MGM announced that it would reject the acquisition by Lionsgate Pictures and go bankrupt and reorganize. It would rather go bankrupt and reorganize than conduct transactions in the 007 series... The copyright of 007 has always belonged to MGM, and Sony Columbia is the overseas distributor... "

"Overseas publisher?"

"MGM no longer has global distribution capabilities!"

Lao Wang then asked: "Then do you know why Sony doesn't care about MGM?"

Shen Xudong smiled: "One of the important reasons why Sony acquired MGM was the film library!

That year, after successfully taking over MGM, they planned to close almost all of MGM's studios except for the 007 series of movies and the "Pink Panther" series of movies..."

"In order to sell discs, when HD and Blu-ray BD discs were fighting, Sony mastered Blu-ray BD technology. After taking over MGM, Sony selected 1,400 films from the film library and output them as exclusive Blu-ray discs. Format…"

"Then what?"

Shen Xudong shrugged: "Then Sony underestimated the speed of technological development... Around 2008, the emergence of online downloads and digital formats led to a historic turning point in the DVD market. As far as the US market is concerned, regardless of Blu-ray or ordinary DVD, sales have shrunk. Nearly 80%... Coupled with the 2008 financial crisis... Let's put it this way, when Sony acquired MGM, the other party had a debt of 2 billion. In 2009, four years after the acquisition, this number became a "loss of 3.7 billion", almost Doubled...Sony can’t afford to play anymore, so they just stopped playing...”

"What about Lions Gate?"

“Lions Gate…”

Shen Xudong was delighted: "To be honest, I also considered acquiring Lionsgate...but later gave up!"

"…Why?"

"Because most of the movies made by Lionsgate are R-rated... The so-called R-rated means they are not suitable for children. They are good at horror movies, bloody action movies and thriller crime movies... It is difficult for such movies to be released in the mainland. If I want to buy Hollywood companies must be considering the mainland market..."

"I heard that you also hold shares in a Hollywood animation company called... Illumination Entertainment?"

"Yes, Illumination Entertainment was established in 2007. The founder is Chris Meledandri, who is Blue Sky Studios...the producer of "Ice Age". Because he was dissatisfied with 20th Century Fox, he simply jumped ship and founded When I joined the company, I had some spare money, so I bought 20% of the shares..."

Lao Wang asked: "...are cartoons highly profitable?"

"It's okay... Anyway, "Despicable Me" cost you US$55 million, and the global box office is close to US$550 million. The income from DVD and copyrighted peripherals is also very good. Last year, the first dividend was distributed, and I shared US$75 million... Then I invested in the subsequent Ten films…”

"...75 million U.S. dollars, three years of income?"

"You can't settle the accounts like this...forget it, I definitely won't make as much as you did selling the house!"

Lao Wang has lived a very comfortable life in the past two years, making a lot of money from real estate, with a net profit of 20 billion a year. In his eyes, the market for film and television production is not big enough!

"I came to you. In addition to asking about Hollywood... I also want to buy your Golden Harvest Cinema..."

Shen Xudong was stunned for a moment: "Jiahe Cinema Line?"

"Yes, you make a price and sell Jiahe Cinema Line to me directly. I won't counter-offer!"

For a moment, Shen Xudong was quite tempted. After all, he has PPTV in his hands, and he will definitely vigorously develop streaming media, cinemas and the like in the future... It is a sunset industry!

After 2018, the scale of the global film market has been unable to grow explosively, but the number of moviegoers has been worrying every year. Coupled with the rise in operating costs, theaters around the world are actually facing a cold winter.

How can theaters save themselves?

Upgrading seats, upgrading food and audio-visual experience is essentially to cope with the declining number of moviegoers. However, this upgraded experience needs to continuously increase the consumption cost per person, which makes the theater enter a kind of "aristocratic" Inside the strange circle.

The better the theaters are upgraded, the lower the number of moviegoers will be.

The simple truth is: compared with other service industries, in addition to hardware facilities, theater services are more important than the film content itself. This kind of "service" is not available in theaters, which are just channels and places for playing movies.

Therefore, selling the theater chain is something Shen Xudong has always considered.

The problem is that the scale of movie viewing in China's film industry will usher in a great leap forward in the next five years, and theater chains will usher in the best time. Shen Xudong doesn't want to miss it, and if there are no theater chains, the entire industry chain will not Complete, only one link is missing.

Thinking of this, Shen Xudong shook his head: "We are unlikely to give up the theater business for the time being..."