Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 534: Reward
If it is built according to the plan, the Golden Harvest Film and Television Base will generate a huge income from property leasing alone, not to mention other things.

Office buildings, food court shops and more will be rented out in due time, and Liu Zhou is also considering whether to operate the two hotels himself or rent them out to other professional hotel companies.

However, these are only three-star and four-star hotels after all. There are not so many requirements and they do not require a very professional team like a five-star hotel. It should not be a big problem to recruit a management team to run it.

In addition, studio usage fees are also a source of income.

Speaking of it, the main source of income for Jiahe Film and Television Base should be the usage fee of the studio. The studio is different from the film and television city. Many film and television cities provide free use of the studio to the crew in order to attract the crew.

This is the case with Hengdian, where all film and television cities are free for film crews to come and shoot movies. Their income mainly comes from tourism income and other derivative income.

The more crews come here to film, the more people there are. Their eating, drinking, defecating, urinating and sleeping are all ways for Hengdian to make money. In addition, the rental of extras, costumes and props, etc., also accounts for a lot of income.

Therefore, the prerequisite for realizing all the plans Liu Zhou has made for the Jiahe Film and Television Base is that there must be enough people, that is, enough film crews coming here to film, otherwise everything is just empty talk.

If you want to attract film crews to come and shoot, the best way is to not only make the film and television city within the base free, but also make those advanced studios free for the crews as well.

But unlike a film and television city, which does not require much maintenance after it is built, a sound studio needs to be restored every time the crew uses it, because the crew needs to set up the scene when shooting in the studio, and the related facilities also need regular maintenance.

Therefore, it is impossible for a studio to be free, and the studios under various production studios also charge fees.

Moreover, the studios built in the Golden Harvest Film and Television Base are very advanced. If they were all given to the crew for free, the maintenance costs would be too high.

In Liu Zhou's plan, Jiahe Film and Television Base will make money through surrounding areas like Hengdian, and the studio will be fine as long as the fees it collects can sustain itself and not lose money.

Of course, simply reducing the studio usage fee is definitely not enough. What attracts crews to the base most is the outpouring of policies from Zhejiang Province and the convenience of completing film and television projects in one go.

It may be difficult to form economies of scale in the early stages, but don’t forget that Jiahe Film and Television Base is not just a single film and television base, there is a film and television giant behind it.

In the early stages, even if it is Jiahe Group’s own project, it can bring a certain amount of traffic.

Moreover, Jiahe Group participates in many projects every year, so it would be no problem to arrange a few of them over.

What's more, the several large studios and professional studios in the base are very convenient for shooting blockbusters, and there is Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio, the country's top special effects company, in charge.

If other companies want to save money, shooting blockbusters here would be the best option.

At the same time, Liu Zhou also plans to invite some Hollywood crews to come here to shoot movies, but Hollywood crews are the kind of people who won't show up until they see the rabbit, so if they want them to come, there must be some profit to make.

In order to attract Hollywood crews, especially blockbuster crews, to come and film from all over the world, they have a relatively high degree of freedom and will be given tax refund policies, especially Germany and New Zealand, where the tax refund rate is very high.

There is no tax refund policy for this in China, but the labor and consumption here are relatively cheap, and the studios are relatively advanced and the fees are relatively cheap, which is somewhat attractive to Hollywood crews.

It may not be realistic to attract many big Hollywood crews, but it can probably become a good choice for some Hollywood crews.

At that time, Liu Zhou even planned to arrange for several projects of Summit Entertainment to come here for filming, which could be regarded as taking care of his own business.

If a Hollywood crew comes here to film, it will be a great boon to the publicity of the film and television base. Hollywood is so highly praised in China now that anything associated with Hollywood seems to become more upscale.

Although Liu Zhou scoffed at this, it was not something he could change as this was the current domestic atmosphere.

He is not a pedantic person. Since he cannot change it, he will just go with the flow. After a few years, the Hollywood filter will naturally be broken.

In fact, in Liu Zhou's heart, he doesn't care too much about how much money Jiahe Film and Television Base makes. It doesn't even matter if it doesn't make any money. As long as the income and expenditure are balanced, he won't say much.

In later generations, almost all domestic film and television cities except Hengdian were making losses. Although Jiahe Film and Television Base was different from a film and television city, it was not easy to make a profit.

However, the film and television base is located in Hangzhou, not far from Hengdian, so they can complement each other. At the same time, with the full support of Golden Harvest Group behind it, it should not suffer losses.

For Golden Harvest, making money is secondary. The most important thing is to deepen the industry influence of the entire group.

Boss Xu, who is behind Hengdian Film and Television City, who in the circle dares to look down on him?
They own Hengdian and have not only become a big boss in the film and television industry, but have also entered the upstream and downstream of the film and television industry, establishing film and television companies to get involved in the production field and laying out the cinema industry.

The Hengdian Film and Television Group that was formed later is also a major force in the circle. Because it is located in Zhejiang Province, it has a very close relationship with Ali Pictures.

Golden Harvest does not need to spread its influence through film and television bases, as Golden Harvest is already a giant in its own right.

The most important role of the film and television base for Golden Harvest is to thoroughly improve the film and television ecology of the Golden Harvest Group, allowing various business segments within the group to cooperate with Sina's related businesses to form a closed loop.

Finally, if the theme park is completed, it will be truly perfect.

Liu Zhou stayed in Hangzhou for three days. Although all the buildings in the base were still under construction, he still spent three days to get to know them.

On March 3, Liu Zhou, Zhang Zhao and others returned to the capital together.

On the plane, Liu Zhou said to Zhang Zhao:
"Mr. Zhang, although the film and television base has not been built yet, I think we should also start preparing for the Golden Harvest Theme Park. The investment in this area will not be less than that of the film and television base, and the early preparations may also take two to three years."

"Okay, I see Wanda is working on a theme park project in recent years. I'll go check it out when the time comes. After all, we don't have much experience in this area."

“No, even if you want to investigate, don’t go to Wanda. Their theme park is not for film and television, but for tourism. It is because they have made great efforts in the film and television industry in the past two years that they have added some film and television elements.

And to be honest, what they are actually doing is a real estate project, but our theme park is based on film and television, and is an extension of the film and television industry.

So even if you want to investigate, you should go to Disney or Universal Studios, preferably Universal Studios. Disney has too many copyrights that have influence around the world, and no company will be able to replicate Disney's success in the future.

The ideal learning target for our Golden Harvest theme park should be Universal Studios, and this also requires the efforts of the entire group to create.”

"Mr. Liu, in this case we also need to develop more influential film and television copyrights."

"Yes, Ghost Blows Out the Light is the focus. It is one of the few copyrights we have that can be included in the theme park." Zhang Zhao sighed and said:

"It's a pity that The Martian was released. It would have been great if the Mars base was put in a theme park. Now the Mars base is in Dunhuang, which seriously affects its appeal."

Hearing Zhang Zhao's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but sigh:
“There was no other way. There were no other good options at the time. The Mars base in Dunhuang was originally converted from a filming location. However, in the past two years, tourism in the northwest has gradually become popular, and the situation will be better by then.

And I think we can also recreate a Mars base in the movie park. Although it lacks some gimmicks, it should still attract a lot of tourists.”

"The Martian" is the first science fiction blockbuster in China. When it was released, it took advantage of the popularity of the Shenzhou VII launch, so the film has a huge influence in China.

In order to restore the Martian landscape more realistically, Liu Zhou invested a lot and spent a lot of time and effort in choosing the shooting location in Dunhuang.

Therefore, in order to maximize profits, the original filming location was converted into a Mars base, making it a Mars-themed amusement park.

When the Mars base first opened, there were quite a lot of tourists because of the movie.

However, Liu Zhou still underestimated the influence of geographical location. When the popularity of the movie gradually subsided, the Mars base became a little deserted.

Liu Zhou originally thought that the Mars base located in Dunhuang, a famous tourist city in the northwest, would attract many tourists, but now there are very few tourists coming to Dunhuang.

The domestic tourism market has gradually prospered in recent years, but tourists still prefer some famous classic and big cities in China.

The tourism boom in the northwest has not yet developed so quickly.

So after the initial enthusiasm wore off, the Mars base became deserted and even suffered losses last year.

If it were placed in a coastal city, the Mars base would definitely become popular thanks to the popularity of "The Martian" and the novel entertainment facilities.

But there is also good news. In recent years, the Mars Base has gained considerable fame among Northwest tourist attractions.

Different from the history and culture of Dunhuang, the Mars and space themes of the Mars Base are quite different in style and are very distinctive among the Northwest attractions.

Tourism in the northwest is starting to heat up now, and the Mars base should be able to turn a profit in the future, but it probably won't make much money.

It's a pity that this project, which could have made a lot of money, can only make small profits because it is located in the northwest.

Now that the Mars base has some influence, it is not realistic to move it to the coastal areas. Moreover, it has missed the first wave of popularity and the best opportunity to expand its influence.

But when the construction of Golden Harvest Film and Television Park begins, they can create a Mars theme and replicate the Mars base. The area does not need to be so large, and they can just move the facilities and gameplay there over.

By then, with the support of other popular themes, the Mars theme should be able to attract some tourists. "The Martian" still has some influence.

"Then when I'm not so busy, I'll go to North America in the middle of the year to see how Universal Studios operates."

"When the time comes, let Edwards contact Universal in advance. They should not refuse the request for inspection."

"Okay, Mr. Liu." Zhang Zhao thought of another thing in his mind and said, "Someone from Warner contacted us two days ago and said they wanted to discuss cooperation with us, and they hope you can attend."

"That should be a verbal agreement reached with them before. I agreed to work with Warner to make a movie, but it was delayed because of the filming of Interstellar and Aftershock.

Since they have come to me now, let's confirm the time with them and let me know when the time comes. I was planning to go to Hollywood next month to discuss this matter with them."

This cooperation with Warner was indeed agreed upon a long time ago, and he was also preparing to try to win an Oscar with this movie.

Previously, Summit Entertainment successfully produced "The Hurt Locker" which won the Oscar for Best Picture, so it can be considered to have some experience in Oscar-winning films.

This time with Warner added, it will be difficult to win Best Picture and Best Director and will require a bit of luck, but getting nominated should be no problem.

Even if he is nominated for Best Director, it should cause some sensation, which is also a plus for Director Liu Zhou's career.

Liu Zhou did not expect to win an award in his first attempt at an Oscar. After all, he is a Chinese, and even if he makes a Hollywood movie, he will still be looked at with tinted glasses by Hollywood filmmakers.

But if it happens a couple of times and works well, there will be no problem. South Korean filmmakers have been laying the groundwork for 10 to 20 years.

What Liu Zhou hopes most is to be able to win awards with a Chinese-language film. If successful, even if Zhang Yimou wins more awards from the three major European cinemas, it will be difficult for him to surpass him in terms of historical status.

After all, with a Palme d'Or, Chen Shishi was able to stand on equal footing with the many honors that Zhang Yimou had, and was even slightly better than Zhang Yimou.

Liu Zhou's status is now almost the same as Zhang Yimou's, but he has won fewer awards overseas, and Zhang Yimou also directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, an event that shocked the world.

Not to mention that his qualifications are much lower than those of Zhang Yimou. Even though he is the leader in the box office and has brought about the rise of domestic hardcore science fiction films, people still think that he is slightly inferior to Zhang Yimou.

Although this kind of honor is just icing on the cake for Liu Zhou, he does value his identity as a director.

There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Now that he has become a director, he also hopes to achieve certain achievements and honors.

Among all the current domestic directors, he and Zhang Yimou are recognized as the best. So of course Liu Zhou wants to compete for the first place in history.

To achieve this goal, it will take a long time to rely on winning more awards in Europe, and there is not much meaning in comparing quantities.

If you want to truly convince people, you still have to compare quality, and the most important award is undoubtedly the Oscar.

From now on, Liu Zhou will focus more on winning awards.

(End of this chapter)