You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 418: Over Million Users
The company that came to discuss the business was Legendary Pictures, and they offered a price of $500,000 with great sincerity.

The $500,000 includes the film production rights and the "commercialization" rights related to "The Martian" IP.

Don’t think that $1999 is a low price. In , Time Warner also spent $ to buy the copyright of Rowling’s "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".

This was a very high price at the time, so much so that many executives within Warner Studios did not understand it and complained that the deal was not worth it.

Later, the Harry Potter series became a huge hit and became Warner's most profitable IP.

However, the original author JK Rowling has a very big say in the film adaptation.

From choosing the film director to adapting the script, from shooting location to selecting actors, everything was executed by her according to her wishes.

Rowling was involved in almost every aspect of the film's production from the beginning.

The price offered by Legendary Pictures is $500,000, which can be said to be full of sincerity.

You should know that in Qin Shaoyan's previous life, 20th Century Fox only spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the copyright of this novel.

As a member of the advisory group, Xiong Xiaoge's wife Luo Yan thinks the price is appropriate.

But Davis rejected the offer, as Facebook and YouTube had big appetites.

Five hundred thousand dollars is a huge sum of money for an ordinary author, and the name of Hollywood is attractive enough, which also has a great publicity effect on the novel itself.

But for Facebook and YouTube, this is just a small amount of money. What they want is influence and the huge value that this IP can contain.

Legendary Pictures' offer clearly did not satisfy Facebook and YouTube.

Davis directly asked the other party, "If we give you $500,000, can we participate in the film production?"

"No, no, no, of course not." The head of Legendary Pictures shook his head and refused.

What a joke! How can you get involved in something like this?

Edward, president of TNB, was more tactful. "We will provide part of the funds and be responsible for Internet publicity and marketing. We can reach millions of readers in North America."

The head of Legendary Pictures hesitated, "How much are you willing to offer?"

"That depends on your budget," Davis said. "We can provide one-third of the funds."

The head of Legendary Pictures immediately responded: “We need to think about it.”

Before Legendary Pictures could come up with anything, Paramount and 20th Century Fox came knocking on the door.

One bid was $350,000 and the other was $400,000.

The offer was not high, but they were very interested in Edward's proposal.

They don't care about the money, they care about the marketing promotion on the Internet.

"The Martian" became popular throughout North America in a short period of time, and it was able to gather 200,000 to 300,000 signatures requesting a film adaptation, which is enough to illustrate the tremendous power of the Internet.

Of course, they are not fools. The fact that this book became so popular in such a short period of time clearly shows that there is a marketing force behind it.

They can't help but be tempted by the fact that they can enjoy this huge marketing channel by cooperating with each other.

Paramount was holding the "Transformers" IP at the time, preparing for its release in 2007, and wanted to use the Internet to market the film in advance, so it was eager to cooperate with "The Martian".

20th Century Fox was very hesitant because they had a very expensive project on hand, which was Cameron's "Avatar".

In 1994, James Cameron wrote an 80-page script for Avatar in just two weeks.

In August 1996, Cameron announced that he would begin filming Avatar after completing Titanic, which would use synthetic or computer-generated actors and would cost $8 million.

That was $1996 million in , and Fox gritted his teeth and agreed.

But then Fox wavered again, remembering the painful experience of Cameron's previous film, Titanic, which was overbudget and delayed.

The budget of "Avatar" reached 200 million US dollars, and there is a great possibility of overspending.

Fox wants to adapt this novel into a low-cost movie to make a big comeback.

Legendary Pictures got the news and immediately came back, bringing Warner Bros. along.

Because they have just signed a seven-year cooperation agreement with Warner Bros., which stipulates that the two parties will jointly finance and produce 7 film and television works in the next seven years.

With a competitor, the subsequent negotiations will be much easier.

Things that were previously undiscussable have become negotiable.

After a week of tug-of-war, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. won the film adaptation rights of "The Martian" for a (nominal) price of one million US dollars.

At the same time, the two sides also reached in-depth cooperation in film promotion and distribution, and all parties were happy.

As soon as the news broke, the entire Internet became lively.

Science fiction fans are especially excited, and have sparked waves of heated discussions on the Internet.

Even media reporters went to Legendary Pictures to interview the people in charge and asked them about their thoughts on the novel adaptation.

The movie hasn't even been launched yet, but public opinion has already reached its peak, which makes the people at Legendary Pictures feel that they have made a lot of money.

So when facing interviews with reporters, Legendary Pictures naturally praised the novel repeatedly, calling it the greatest science fiction work in the first decade of the 21st century.

……

The news that the film rights to "The Martian" had been bought by a Hollywood film company quickly spread back to China, and public opinion became even more excited.

Even CCTV broadcast a brief news report, and several other major official media outlets reported the incident in lengthy articles.

A large number of experts and scholars stepped forward and announced that they had long been optimistic about the novel "I Plant Potatoes on Mars".

The adaptation into a Hollywood movie marked the rise of Chinese science fiction, and from then on Chinese science fiction entered a new era.

It was given the title of China's greatest science fiction novel, which even left Qin Shaoyan dumbfounded.

Science Fiction World magazine was extremely excited because the novel was first published in their magazine. The magazine also gained a lot of popularity and was praised and rewarded by its superiors.

The editor-in-chief immediately contacted Qin Shaoyan, wanting him to reorganize the novel and then print and publish it.

Qin Shaoyan had no time to care about the novel at this moment, as he also had to deal with the important issue of financing for Kuaibo.com.

At this time, Xiong Xiaoge was holding a pile of newspapers and asked suspiciously, "You didn't do this, did you?"

"Boss Xiong." Qin Shaoyan was helpless. "How can I be so worthy? These are the top newspapers. I don't have the background or ability to bribe them to hype me up."

"But it's your ability to hype it up to this extent." Xiong Xiaoge put down the newspaper casually, "The Hollywood matter has been settled, do you have any second steps to take?" "No." Qin Shaoyan said regretfully, "It's better not to catch up now, this IP is sold at a loss."

"Is this a loss?" Xiong Xiaoge felt that Qin Shaoyan was bragging a bit too much.

"I put so much effort into it, but it only sold for so little money." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "If another ten years pass, this IP will be worth at least a billion dollars."

"Qvod and YouTube are not listed yet, so there is no stimulus to the stock price."

"The marketing is a complete waste of money. It can only be regarded as a loss-making gain."

"Okay, this time YouTube and Facebook can form a cooperative relationship with Hollywood, which is a good start." Xiong Xiaoge was very optimistic, "Your plan has been very successful."

"Since Mr. Xiong thinks it's a success, then give me the money." Qin Shaoyan was excited and asked for money directly. "Once the financing is completed, I will immediately announce to the public that Qvod Film and Television will start the development of the TV series version of "I Plant Potatoes on Mars"."

"How to market is your business, I only look at the results." Xiong Xiaoge patted the newspaper on the table.

IDG led the investment with US$30 million this time, and together with seven other venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital and Capital Today, a total of US$90 million was invested.

Zheng Nan of Sequoia China has mixed feelings. He now regrets why he did not invest more in the first round.

If they want to invest again now, they have to spend more money. This time they put out a full 15 million US dollars, which is the largest amount except for IDG.

In fact, Zheng Nan had already begun to regret when he learned that QVOD.com held the copyright to "I Plant Potatoes on Mars".

Qin Shaoyan's subsequent dazzling operations further deepened this feeling.

Selling the animation of the novel for two million dollars is not a big deal, but the most fatal thing is that Hollywood bought the film adaptation rights.

Zheng Nan couldn't blame Xiong Xiaoge, because when Qin Shaoyan first told him that Qvod was valued at $900 million, Zheng Nan wanted to stay away from Qin Shaoyan.

You really dare to ask for it.

The premium for video websites is indeed high now, but it’s not as shameless as yours.

Things are different now.

If Qin Shaoyan hadn’t assured him that he would launch another hit IP after Qvod went public, Zheng Nan would have regretted it even more.

The craze brought by "I Plant Potatoes on Mars" did not fade away quickly, but became more and more popular.

Not only is it highly discussed on the Internet, newspapers and magazines are constantly publishing related news.

This novel has become a topic of discussion among people on the streets, which shows how popular this novel is.

Pirates naturally cannot miss this opportunity. Before the genuine books are confirmed, pirated books have already flooded the street stalls.

The mysterious author who has remained silent naturally aroused everyone's curiosity, and countless reporters wanted to find out the author's identity.

The Science Fiction World magazine was harassed endlessly, and even official leaders came to inquire about it, and the magazine was helpless.

Because they didn't know who the author was, all the information was negotiated and conveyed by Xun Ziliang.

Xun Ziliang had made it clear in advance that the author did not want his identity to be exposed, so they respected the author's wishes and would not tell anyone.

The more mysterious it is, the more curious it is. Who is the author of "I Plant Potatoes on Mars" has become the hottest topic on the Internet.

Just when everyone was speculating, the QVOD website came out and announced to everyone that they had obtained all the authorizations for "I Grow Potatoes on Mars".

They were responsible for all previous animated adaptations and Hollywood film adaptations.

Their Qvod Film and Television Company has officially adapted "I Plant Potatoes on Mars" into a TV series and will invest a large amount of money in the production.

This is the first time that the domestic TV drama industry has attempted the science fiction genre. Kuaibo Film and Television Company said that they will spend five years to carefully polish it.

As soon as the news was released, the Internet became lively and countless netizens cheered.

They haven't watched any domestic science fiction TV series yet, so now that there's someone who's the first to try it out, they're naturally encouraged.

However, the media is not optimistic, including people in the film and television industry, who think that what QVOD is doing is too risky.

Because there is no relevant production experience in China at all, it is also a question whether the audience can accept science fiction TV series.

Moreover, it is obvious that this TV series requires special effects, and the production costs are high, so it is easy to lose money.

However, the novel "I Grow Potatoes on Mars" is so popular that the media and public opinion have praised it very highly. After all, it is a novel that even Hollywood has taken a fancy to, and no one dares to criticize it.

Amidst all the praise, Qvod told the media that they would invest more money in creating and developing high-quality domestic content in the future.

In the next five years, Qvod will invest 500 million RMB in content production, hoping to create China's "Harry Potter" series IP.

Other colleagues in the video industry almost vomited blood after seeing the news.

They were overwhelmed by the problem of piracy. Sohu's "Anti-Piracy Alliance" attacked everywhere, trying hard to block their application and finding fault from time to time.

If you cannot join the "Anti-Qvod Alliance", you will not be able to get the genuine film and television resource library of Qvod.com. Without genuine resources, they will have no advertisers, and their users will also be lost rapidly.

While its peers continued to lose money, Qvod became more and more popular, and was widely publicized by major media outlets thanks to the popularity of a novel.

By November, the number of registered users of Qvod officially exceeded 11 million.

It’s more painful to see your colleagues making money than to see them losing money!
In the anti-piracy alliance, Qvod is far ahead, and Sohu Video has also taken a lot of market share.

What is strange is that Yiku.com, which has a strong background and abundant financial resources, not only did not gain any benefits, but also lost a lot of users.

Why is this so?
Many people who run video websites also feel a little puzzled, as if something has gone wrong with Yiku.com.

But no one has the time to pay attention to Yiku.com, as they themselves are barely surviving.

Fortunately, QVOD still cares about its peers. When the number of users exceeded 100 million, CEO Kou Hongfei announced that he would actively promote the "Anti-Piracy Alliance" camp and attract more video websites to join as soon as possible.

After that, the Anti-Piracy Alliance’s review was relaxed a lot, and more than 50 video websites passed the review and were authorized to use Qvod’s genuine film and television resources.

But this is not without cost. Although the cost is small, it is still a bit unbearable.

……

One day in November 2005, when Chinese netizens opened any video website, they were stunned.

No matter which video website, including Qvod, Sohu Video, Tudou, 56...

Without exception, there is a particularly eye-catching video in the most prominent position on the homepage.

An advertisement for a game.

(End of this chapter)