Top of the Great Era

Ziweixing International also has a branch in Los Angeles. It is a movie ecology created by Zhou Buqi a few years ago. There are 4 websites in total - movie social networking website Flixster, movie rating website Rotten Tomatoes, movie rating website Metacritic, and movie ticket purchase Website Fandango.

Yahoo also has a movie channel.

After the acquisition of Yahoo is completed, a certain degree of integration can be carried out next, and the "Internet + movie" industry of Ziweixing International can be regarded as having a stronger strength.

Of course, what is more important is the help of Netflix and Ziweixing Global in a broader ecology.

Wanda recently completed the acquisition of AMC Cinemas.

This complements each other even more.

When Zhou Buqi came to Los Angeles, he first found Ann Sarnoff, an executive of Ziwei Star Global, and asked her to help take care of his younger sister. He said that he wanted to study and visit the show "Special Effects Makeup Showdown" and obtain copyright rights. cooperate.

Then he turned his attention to movies.

Not the movie itself, but "Internet + movie."

With the advent of the mobile era, the concept of "Internet +" should rise, and many movie websites under Ziweixing International have also launched App versions.

What Zhou Buqi pays most attention to is the ticketing website Fandango.

Similar websites in China have been in a state of loss.

Fandango is different. In the past five or six years, it has been in a state of profitability, and basically does not know what it means to lose money.This is mainly related to the difference in product concept.

Domestic movie websites basically use the subsidy model.

Because domestic competition is too great.

Movie websites don't have much technical content, they can be started casually, and the threshold is very low... If you want to attract users, you can only use subsidies.

Therefore, when domestic movie fans buy tickets for watching movies, they all like to buy tickets online.

Because the online site is subsidized, the cost can be lower.

Fandango is different.

The business philosophy has changed a long time ago, with profit as the goal, trying to make money every day.In addition to the advertising revenue on the website, there is also a large amount of income that is commissions for ticket purchases.

In other words, when movie fans buy tickets on Fandango, in addition to buying movie tickets at the original price, they also have to pay a commission to the website.

With commissions, Fandango can make money.

But this also means that when movie fans buy tickets, they seldom choose to buy tickets online, and more often they still buy tickets offline.Buying tickets offline is a centuries-old tradition, and the price will be cheaper than online.

Zhou Buqi had long wanted to change this.

But the time is not ripe.

If we want to do a good job of "Internet + Movies", we still have to wait for the development of the mobile business, which was almost impossible in the past few years.Another more important point is the attitude of the theaters.

Many movie theaters in the United States have a long history of decades, and their business models are both traditional and rigid.

Disapproval of this online ticket purchase model.

Therefore, the slow development of Fandango is limited by this objective factor. Many movie theaters are unwilling to cooperate with them, and they are unwilling to allow movie fans to buy tickets online.

Now it's different.

Wanda appeared!
Wanda completed the acquisition of AMC, the second largest theater chain in North America.

During this process, Zhou Buqi helped a lot.

So after the transaction was completed, Fandango and AMC Theaters reached a cooperation immediately.From now on, all movie tickets in AMC theaters can be purchased on Fandango.

Around "Internet + Movies", Zhou Buqi has a big plan, which is a larger overall systematic project.

A Chinese Internet thinking.

This set is absolutely feasible in the United States.

For example, Snapchat has done so well in the United States, but they still can't make any money. They learned from WeChat and learned from Penguin.Only then did the profit model be found, which promoted the listing of the company.

Another example is Alipay.

Later, all financial payment products in the United States basically learned from the template of Alipay, and one or two commercial innovations from it were enough to kill the Quartet.

In the era of mobile Internet, the domestic Internet is still far behind Silicon Valley in terms of technology, and the technological gap will only grow wider.

At the product level, it can surpass it.

At the imaginative level of the business model, it can basically crush the Internet products in Silicon Valley.

Just like uber and Didi.

At the beginning, Didi was made by imitating Uber.After Didi grew up, Uber began to imitate Didi in all aspects.

However, Zhou Buqi was not in a hurry.

Now is the time.

The mobile Internet train is coming, and Wanda has also acquired AMC Cinemas... It feels like the plan can be launched.

Zhou Buqi came to Los Angeles this time, and went to investigate first.

Ziweixing International's film business is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Zhou Buqi was accompanied by the secretary Ning Yaxian, Gu Zanli who speaks excellent English, Jason Kilar, the CEO of Ziweixing Global, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the president of DreamWorks Animation... ... A group of seven or eight met Fandango's president, Paul Yanova.

This Paul Yanoval was previously the senior vice president of Disney's online business, and later joined Ziweixing International as the president of Fandango. Katzenberg helped a lot in this process.

After the meeting, start with a simple greeting.

Then he talked about some work situations.

Paul Yanoval is just the president of Fandango, and there is also a group vice president in charge of entertainment business on his head.The vice president is not from the entertainment industry, but a marketing man who originated in Silicon Valley.

This makes them always disagree when communicating.

Zhou Buqi kept it in his heart and remained calm.

Then we talked about the development of Fandango's ticketing business.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Have you signed a contract with AMC Cinemas?"

Paul Yanoval was very happy, "It was signed at the end of April, and the terms of the contract are very rich. Not only can you buy movie tickets online for all AMC theaters, they also provide seat information in all movie theaters, which makes our The platform will become more competitive.”

"Wait..." Zhou Buqi grabbed a point, "Seat information in the movie theater?"

Paul smiled and said, "Yes, after the acquisition of AMC Cinemas by Wanda Group, the business philosophy seems to have undergone some changes, and it is closer to consumers, and it is no longer the traditional concept of the film industry."

Zhou Buqi asked: "How to say?"

Paul said: "Fandango has always wanted to promote one thing, which is to allow movie fans to choose their own seats through the online platform. Through the website, it can be displayed in real time which seats in the auditorium are sold and which seats are vacant. Movie fans They can choose where they want to sit.”

Zhou Buqi was very surprised, "Isn't this what it should be?"

"How?" Paul was even more surprised, "This will subvert the traditional business model of movie theaters. Movie fans like to watch movies in the best seats, and no one likes to sit on the edge. This will greatly increase theater operating costs."

"Uh……"

Zhou Buqi was dumbfounded and speechless.

This can be regarded as a real experience of the wonderful changes that the Internet has brought to the world. Advanced productivity means serving consumers more closely.

From this perspective, China is much better than the United States.

Movie theaters in the United States are unwilling to share similar information with ticketing platforms.

If I let movie fans choose by themselves... Damn!Doesn't that mean that movie tickets can't be sold?Did you all choose the most suitable seats for watching movies in the middle?Wouldn't those marginal positions not be sold?
Originally, 10 shows could meet the demand, but the cinema needs to line up 30 shows.

Operating costs are greatly increased.

Paul smiled and said, "But now, there are new bloods in the theater chain industry. Wanda Group does not have the traditional American concept of theater chains. Their attitude is more open. They have opened up almost all the information we need. .”

As the CEO of Ziwei Star Global, Jason Kilar knew it well, and pointed at Zhou Buqi with a smile, "Wanda was able to complete the acquisition of AMC Cinemas. He was the chief consultant and helped a lot."

Paul suddenly realized, "So it is!"

This is actually a bit exaggerated.

There is no Zhou Buqi, Wanda in the previous life did the same.Wanda has brought some concepts of domestic theaters into AMC theaters, and fully and openly connected to the Internet ticketing platform.

The catfish effect came out.

In particular, the AMC theater chain is the second largest theater chain in North America. The size of this catfish is huge, and it soon drove the entire film industry to fully open to the Internet.

The United States is still not the same as the country.

The Internet has unimaginable power in China, and movie theaters are all privately owned. Under the market economy, there is no way to fight against the Internet.If you sell train tickets or air tickets, it is a state-run monopoly organization. The Internet is not working well, and consumers can't choose their own seats; but facing private movie theaters, it is too easy to reform.

This is not the case in the United States, because theaters are not used to the Internet just now.

The movie theater industry has been around for hundreds of years, but the Internet is only a few years old?Why listen to the Internet?Why should it be replaced by a more advanced model?

Wanda acquired AMC Cinemas, bringing in the cooperation model between the Internet and movie theaters in China, which greatly promoted the American theater market to move closer to a more advanced civilization.

It can be regarded as breaking their tradition to a certain extent.

Paul went on to say: "Many movie theaters are unwilling to connect to the Internet platform. The operating cost is a big factor. Many ticket sellers in movie theaters have worked for decades and are old. They may not be able to use the online and offline machines. .If new conductors are recruited, it will be an additional expense."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "If you want to break the tradition, you will definitely hurt some traditional interest groups. It's really not easy."

Paul said with a smile: "With AMC theaters at the beginning, it will always get better and better. Throughout May, our online movie ticket sales have doubled compared to last year, mainly "The Avengers."