Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 521 Huge Profits and Plans

Whether it is the Big Seven in Hollywood or its partner Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment Golden Harvest will not be sold.

If we have to sell it a few years later because of tense international relations, that’s another matter.

In fact, Liu Zhou was prepared for this. The bald eagle was the biggest gangster. He would not be surprised even if it was directly confiscated, let alone forced sale.

Like the polar bear tycoon Abramovich, once the war between Russia and Russia broke out, his overseas assets were forcibly confiscated, and the Chelsea Football Club worth billions of pounds disappeared just like that.

Although this was in John Bull, the Bald Eagle has confiscated even more overseas assets from the Polar Bear.

Of course, the relationship between polar bears and bald eagles has been very tense due to reasons in the last century. The bald eagle has always wanted to tame and recruit polar bears, but failed because of the rise of Putin.

Therefore, the contradictions between them have always existed and are very deep.

Although the relationship between the rabbit and the bald eagle is not so tense, because the rabbit is becoming more and more powerful, it has become a thorn in the bald eagle's side.

Moreover, due to ideological reasons, it has always been strictly guarded by the West, and COCOM still exists today.

In the past, rabbits were relatively weak and therefore not taken seriously by bald eagles. However, after nearly three decades of keeping a low profile, rabbits have become stronger, and the blockades and suppression they face have become increasingly severe.

Also because rabbits occupy an increasingly important position in the world economy, they dare not treat rabbits like they treat polar bears.

However, economic sanctions have always existed, and have become even more severe, especially since Trump came to power.

Not only is it targeted at the macro level, but also at specific companies. The Chrysanthemum Factory is a typical example, which has been subject to all-round sanctions and blockades by the Bald Eagle.

Later, the overseas version of a certain audio app, which is the only domestic software that has been successful overseas, was forced to sell it, and the lawsuit has been going on for several years.

Of course, the overseas version of Douyin is specifically targeted by the Bald Eagle because it involves information dissemination.

Even though overseas media brag about press freedom every day, the information cocoon woven by Western media for Westerners is even more solid.

Even if Summit Entertainment develops well after several years of development, it may not be comparable to the overseas version of Tik Tok. However, in the United States, movies are also an important form of promotion for them.

Of course, Summit Entertainment’s strength cannot cause too much impact, but it still has a considerable influence and temptation for the Big Seven in Hollywood.

Normally they may only be able to adopt normal business means, but if the situation between the two sides becomes tense and Rabbit’s companies in the United States are targeted, there is no guarantee that Summit Entertainment will not be sanctioned as well.

Don't underestimate the gangster nature of the Hollywood Big Seven. If they want to target you, they will definitely use any means necessary.

Maybe their parliament won't notice little Karami like you, but there is no guarantee that the seven major Hollywood companies won't lobby for you, as there is a media giant behind them.

This kind of thing is not difficult to do at all.

Liu Zhou has always assumed the utmost malice towards those foreigners, especially in North America, so he was actually prepared to lose Summit Entertainment for unfounded reasons.

There is nothing we can do about it. Who made North America the center of world cinema? Who made us want to have overseas markets?

If you want something, you have to abide by other people's rules and endure their tyranny.

Of course, if it really comes to a matter of life and death, Liu Zhou would rather sell Summit Entertainment to Lionsgate than to the Big Seven in Hollywood. Of course, it would be better if a merger could be achieved.

Lionsgate at least had a honeymoon period, but the Big Seven in Hollywood were like bandits, giving people a more brutal feeling.

So even though they may lose their voice, at least they can still get considerable financial returns and retain the possibility of continuing to enter the North American film market.

In fact, by that time, the domestic film market had already taken off, and it would be enough to make a living in the country.

But for domestic companies, no matter what industry they are in, there is an obsession with expanding overseas, not only because of profit issues, but also because they want to prove something.

After all, the Rabbit has been bullied by the West for too long and has lagged behind the West for too long.

Moreover, for a large film and television group like Golden Harvest Group, it is already the industry leader and is far ahead. If it keeps staying in the domestic market, it would actually be a step backwards and wait for others to catch up.

Not to mention becoming a world-class film and television group or even a media group.

Now that Jiahe Group has become number one, going overseas is an inevitable choice. Liu Zhou started over and has grown the company to its current size. There would be no point in not trying overseas.

For the current Golden Harvest Group, Summit Entertainment is the most important part of its overseas layout.

In fact, Golden Harvest does not have too many requirements for Summit Entertainment, and it is very independent, so even when the group’s high-level meeting was held, Summit Entertainment’s president Edwards was not called over.

But I didn't expect that Edwards was so capable, and with Liu Zhou's occasional direction, Summit Entertainment actually developed so well.

Especially last year, the profits generated by Summit Entertainment were no less than those of the entire domestic group.

In 2010, Summit Entertainment released six films, which grossed a total of $7.1 million.

Among them, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was a collaboration with 20th Century Fox, with the investment split equally.

There was also a small- to medium-budget movie produced in collaboration with Lionsgate, but the box office of this movie was only 30 to 40 million, so the impact was not that big.

Then, the distribution of these six films, except for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", was cooperated with Lionsgate.

So in terms of the North American box office, overall, Summit Entertainment will be able to reap about 2.8% of the revenue, which is $ million.

Then almost all other copyright income belongs to Summit Entertainment.

The biggest contributors to this are "Twilight 2" and two other movies that have grossed over million US dollars, and the total revenue from other copyrights is nearly million US dollars.

Finally, there are overseas box office revenues, the most important of which is "The Twilight Saga 2", which has an overseas box office of up to 4.1 million.

The overseas distribution was jointly entrusted to Lionsgate and Golden Harvest International. Although Golden Harvest International and Summit Entertainment are sister companies, brothers also settle accounts clearly. The distribution fees were not much less and were all based on market prices.

Overseas distribution fees are slightly higher, and Summit Entertainment can only get about 25% of the overseas box office.

This is the case when Lionsgate and Golden Harvest International know the company well and will not cheat. If the film is handed over to the Big Seven in Hollywood, their distribution capabilities will be stronger, but their accounting capabilities will also be much stronger.

They can make the overseas revenue of the producers negative, and you have to pay them in the end. Even if they don't cheat you, they are more greedy. It is difficult to get 25% of the share from them for overseas distribution. They are very conscientious if they can get 20%.

Therefore, Summit Entertainment was able to get more than 4.1 million out of the million yuan in overseas box office of "Twilight".

Then there is "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", which also did well at the overseas box office, earning 2.42 million.

Although the overseas distribution of this film was handled by 20th Century Fox, the two parties had a friendly cooperative relationship on this film and they did not dare to go too far.

In the end, the producers received 21% of the overseas box office share, which was about 50 million US dollars, and Summit Entertainment got half of it, which was 25 million US dollars.

There is also a movie called "Salt", which, thanks to Angelina Jolie's fame, also made tens of millions of dollars at the box office overseas.

Then the remaining three small and medium-budget films were not released overseas, and the copyright buyout method was adopted.

For these last four films, Summit Entertainment received a total of approximately $30 million.

So last year Summit Entertainment’s total revenue reached $5.1 million.

Then minus nearly $3.1 million in costs, Summit Entertainment's profit last year was $ million.

This cost of nearly 200 million was accumulated by Summit Entertainment over two years. After the acquisition, Golden Harvest Group allocated more than 30 million US dollars.

It was precisely because of the previous accumulation that we achieved last year’s success. Otherwise, even with such vision, we would not have enough funds to invest in film production.

In fact, it is more common in North America for banks or funds to lend money to shoot movies, and the system can be said to be very complete.

However, Liu Zhou had a strong delusion of being destroyed in North America, and was always worried that they would cheat him, so Liu Zhou never dared to take out a loan and always used his own funds to make movies.

If the first Twilight film had not been almost completed when Summit Entertainment was acquired, which provided a boost to the company's bottom line, the company would have developed even more slowly if Liu Zhou had continued his approach.

Starting from next year, Liu Zhou will not be so conservative, although he will not dare to invest 10% like the Big Seven and then raise 90% of the funds through loans, which is almost like making money out of nothing.

But it will also either borrow or raise about 50% of the funds to operate a project. In this way, Summit Entertainment will be able to leverage more projects this year.

In fact, this is normal. Now that Summit Entertainment has completely established its foothold in Hollywood and has completed capital accumulation, it is time to move forward at a faster pace.

Last year, it made a profit of US$3.1 million, equivalent to RMB 26.6 billion, which is almost the same as the profit of Golden Harvest Group in China last year.

So this is also the fundamental reason why film companies all over the world want to enter Hollywood, that is, the North American film market is indeed more profitable.

The entire Golden Harvest Group worked hard for a whole year, but in the end the profit it created was almost the same as that of a film company. It was really frustrating.

But this Hollywood film company is our own, so that's fine.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that it was difficult to bring back the funds from Summit Entertainment, and even if it could be brought back, they would be skinned dry, Liu Zhou would have wanted to get the money back.

But thinking about the loss of at least 50%, Liu Zhou was still reluctant to do so, otherwise Summit Entertainment would really become a big blood bag for Golden Harvest Group.

But even if we can't bring it back, it doesn't matter. We can take advantage of the current situation and let Summit Entertainment make a few more movies and improve the distribution channels in North America.

Before Trump comes to power, Liu Zhou will have to get the money back no matter how much he loses. He doesn't want to be a scapegoat for others in vain.

Of course, this is just to be prepared and make the worst-case scenario plan. If you can't take the company away, you have to bring some of the money back.

But all this will take another four or five years. It’s still early now, and the most important thing is the present.

Because of last year's outstanding performance, if all the project proceeds are in place, Summit Entertainment will have $5.1 million in funds.

This amount of funds is probably about the same as the annual production costs of the Big Seven Hollywood studios, but they are able to leverage the production of more than ten films, and there is no shortage of three or four blockbusters.

But for Summit Entertainment, even if it raises or borrows some funds from outside, the number of projects that can be leveraged will not exceed ten.

Even if it could exceed ten, Summit Entertainment would still be a bit overwhelmed.

The company needs to start moving forward in big strides, but the steps cannot be too big, otherwise it will easily fail.

If ten projects are really launched within a year, not only will it be a problem whether Summit Entertainment has enough manpower, but it will also be a problem whether it can handle all of them.

Edwards is somewhat self-aware. He reported to Liu Zhou that they would start shooting a maximum of eight films next year. If they are too busy, they would stick to one or two as appropriate.

The projects that have been confirmed to be launched include "Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2", which is a continuation of the cooperation with 2012th Century Fox. However, this film has just been prepared and will be released in .

In addition, there is the script "Now You See Me" given by Liu Zhou, which will also be a key project of Summit Entertainment next year.

The film was already in preparation last year and is currently being filmed. Fan Xiaopang also plays an important role in the film and it is scheduled to be released during the Christmas season.

The most important project of Summit Entertainment this year is "The Hunger Games".

This is a classic series of films from Lionsgate Entertainment. Now it has been preempted by Liu Zhou, who published the related novels in North America early and occupied the copyright in advance.

This series has been in my hands for several years, and now I finally have the funds and opportunity to make the film.

The filming of this movie started as early as last year, and it has now been completed and is currently in post-production.

Edwards also has high hopes for this film and is ready to have it represent Summit Entertainment again in the summer season.

As for other projects, Liu Zhou didn't care too much and let Edwards arrange them.

In fact, even if there were no other movies, with the two movies "Now You See Me" and "The Hunger Games", Summit Entertainment's performance this year would be very good.

Both movies have grossed over 100 million yuan at the box office, and have also achieved good results overseas. Although not as outstanding as "Twilight", they have also grossed 300 to 400 million yuan.

With good results achieved for two consecutive years, Summit Entertainment's production capabilities will be fully enhanced. If ten projects are really launched next year, there will not be a shortage of funds.

Moreover, these two films are series, and with the addition of the "Twilight" series, the temptation of Summit Entertainment will no longer be resisted.

(End of this chapter)