Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 597 Smooth Sailing

Cube is now a hot independent production company in Hollywood, best known for the Twilight series.

The Twilight series is truly a treasure. The first film, Twilight, grossed $4.05 million worldwide, leaving everyone speechless.

With a box office of $1.93 million in North America, it sounds pretty good, but its production cost was only a little over $2000 million.

Because of "Twilight", bestsellers suddenly became highly sought after.

Everyone wants to replicate this success.

There have been previous examples of best-selling books being adapted into best-selling movies, such as "Jurassic Park" and "First Blood".

However, not every film adaptation of a bestselling book is successful.

Especially vampire themes.

Vampires falling in love is a first for Twilight. Before that, vampires were all like Dracula, with pale faces and at most described as elegant, not handsome at all.

The success of the cube attracted offers from other Hollywood studios.

Lionsgate has offered $7.41 million to acquire Cube.

Lionsgate may be an independent production company, but it has always aspired to be a major player. In 03, it acquired Artison Entertainment, the company that produced "The Blair Witch Project".

Three years later, they acquired Peak Entertainment.

Now they've set their sights on the cube.

However, Lionsgate was not the only option. Warner Bros. also had the intention to acquire it and even talked to Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen didn't want to deal with it and directly asked Diane to handle it.

Hollywood studios have a long-standing tradition of acquiring small and medium-sized independent production companies. Warner Bros. acquired New Line Cinema, Disney acquired Pixar Studios, and Universal acquired Illumination Entertainment.

Warner Music was very sincere this time, offering a purchase price of $11.23 billion.

Lionsgate offered a low price because it only wanted to acquire Cube's film business, while Warner Bros. wanted to take it all over.

Its television network has a partnership with Cube, so it has a better understanding of each other's value.

Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries have a great influence among young people, and The Walking Dead has become a phenomenon. Even popular shows have to consider The Walking Dead before they can air.

These are all high-quality assets, not to mention that Cube also holds the rights to another bestselling novel—The Hunger Games.

The author of "The Hunger Games" is Susan Collins. This novel ignited the book market as soon as it was published in 08, becoming the number one bestseller on The New York Times list and remaining at the top of the list for 66 consecutive weeks.

Many people saw a business opportunity and came knocking with checks, wanting to buy the film adaptation rights, only to be told that they had already been sold.

sold?

Who did you sell it to?

It's a cube, of course.

The name "The Hunger Games" had always been on Diane's little notebook. Before the book was even published, Diane went to the bookstore to find it.

Diane is quite a celebrity now, and Susan Collins has certainly heard of her; she is a screenwriter and a member of the industry.

The two sides had a very pleasant conversation.

Diane wasn't looking for a bargain; her offer was fair and included conditions that Susan Collins couldn't refuse.

No novelist can resist the allure of having their work adapted into a film or television series, and Susan Collins is no exception.

Diane's reasoning is simple—just as Spielberg is behind DreamWorks, every film company has a powerful figure behind it, and behind the Cube is Zhang Chen. *The Hunger Games* is a novel with a female protagonist, and the film adaptation is naturally a female-centric film. And in the world, no one dares to claim they are better at making female-centric films than Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen is the number one actress in leading roles in movies, the undisputed number one!
This isn't bragging; it's a fact acknowledged by the entire film industry.

Diane didn't give any specific promises, such as that Zhang Chen would definitely be directing, but this actually reassured Collins more.

She's in the industry and knows some of the practices there.

Many companies hoard copyrights not for film and television adaptations, but to reserve a spot.

Perhaps in a few years, when the market is better, these people won't even need to operate actual projects; they can make a lot of money simply by selling film and television adaptation rights.

Diane finally made a promise that director Zhang Chen might not personally direct "The Hunger Games," but he would definitely be involved, and that "The Hunger Games" would definitely be greenlit within five years.

After much deliberation, Susan Collins finally made her choice.

Selling the Hunger Games to the Cube would have the highest probability of success.

The Cube, with its director who excels at portraying female characters and a proven track record of successfully adapting novels into films, is the most suitable choice. Selling it to someone else might not be so easy.

Since that was the case, Collins signed his name on the contract without much hesitation.

……

In the cube-shaped office, Zhang Chen looked at the contract Diane handed him and snapped his fingers in satisfaction: "Well done!"

"I'm just running errands; it mainly depends on your judgment, boss."

Diane was quite modest.

"By the way, Boss, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate both want to acquire us. What are your thoughts on this?"

Diane's tone was somewhat hesitant when she asked that question.

What about you? What are your thoughts?

"Of course I don't want to sell. They're offering a ridiculously low price. Our company's market value is severely undervalued..."

When the topic of market capitalization came up, her tone became indignant again.

"Yeah, I think so too~"
8 million and 11 billion?
"You think you can buy my company with such a small amount of money? You're dreaming!"

Diane echoed this sentiment: "Twilight alone grossed $4 million worldwide, and I'm confident the next few films will do even higher, not to mention we also have three TV series, each a top-tier show!"

In recent years, thanks to the cube, he has moved to a bigger house, bought a nice car, and even enrolled his daughter in a private school. His life is getting better and better.
All of this was because of the cube shares Zhang Chen gave her.

Conversely, she would be the most affected if the cube were acquired, but she would be powerless to stop it because Zhang Chen is the major shareholder.

That's why he was a little worried.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to sell the cube. I'm counting on you to help me make it bigger and stronger!"

Zhang Chen smiled and reassured Diane, then casually tossed her a few folders.

"These are... scripts?"

Diane recognized it after only a few glances.

Zhang Chen nodded: "Yes, they are a few low-budget films I'm preparing, all with the potential to be big hits. I've already found the directors, and they'll be coming to report to you in a couple of days. After that, it's up to you..."

Diane's eyes lit up as she listened: "A huge explosion? How big of an explosion?"

"At least on par with 'Saw'?"

"Really?"

It wasn't that Diane didn't believe him, it was just that Zhang Chen's words contained too much information.

What level is "Saw"? It's hailed as a prime example of achieving great things with limited resources.

It cost $1.2 million to make and grossed over $100 million worldwide.

Upon hearing this, she picked up the script and began to study it carefully. Coincidentally, the first one she read was "The Purge".

Diane is a seasoned veteran; she could tell at a glance that this film couldn't have a high budget, at most 300 million.

The premise is very novel, and this model clearly has the potential to be made into a series.

For low-budget films, turning them into a series is the most important thing; that's a money-making machine.

Saw and Wrong Turn have both had seven or eight installments. The plot of these kinds of movies can be continuous or discontinuous, as long as the theme remains the same; even changing the entire cast is fine.

Then Zhang Chen told her about the Summoning Universe.

Good heavens!
"I like horror movies, but I especially dislike this kind~"

Diane has an innate aversion to movies about ghosts.

Just reading the script for "Lurking" sent chills down my spine.

"When was the last time I watched a movie like this? It wasn't scary at all, and I actually fell asleep while watching it. My friend had to pinch my philtrum to wake me up..."

Diane's humorous self-deprecation made Zhang Chen burst into laughter.

He shrugged, but in his heart he was thinking, "My boss really likes to create universes."

Monster movies are going to be made into universes, spy movies are going to be made into universes, even horror movies are going to be made into universes~
At that moment, Diane suddenly felt more confident.

11 million?
Go to hell.

Even if you offered him 20 billion, he wouldn't sell.

Of course, Diane knew in her heart that the cube would definitely be acquired when it reached a certain stage of development.

This was an inevitable outcome, just like DreamWorks.

The bottleneck for major film studios is not production, but distribution.

The six major Hollywood studios would never allow a seventh company to grow to their level. When The Cube develops and reaches a certain size, the six studios will step in to suppress it, and even their partner Warner Bros. is no exception.

To put it bluntly, this is their origin.

Between immediate and long-term interests, the six parties will definitely choose long-term interests.

But that's for the future; it's too far off to think about that now.

What Diane needs to do now is to make the company bigger and stronger as soon as possible, so that even if she has to sell it, she can get a good price for it.

……

Zhang Chen made a special trip to the United States this time, but the cube issue was actually secondary; the main purpose was to deal with other matters.

Zhong Lifang and Activision Blizzard have almost reached an agreement.

Activision Blizzard is the company that developed Call of Duty.

Zhong Lifang's request was very clear: she wanted to use the Call of Duty game engine to create an expansion pack.

Activision Blizzard originally didn't want to agree to this. Who would be interested in a battle in the far East called the Battle of Shanghai?

However, Zhong Lifang claims to be Zhang Chen's spokesperson, which requires careful consideration.

Collaboration between film and television and games has long been an industry practice.

Many famous game level designs even involve the involvement of film screenwriters.

Moreover, the conditions Zhang Chen offered were very favorable to them.

Zhang Chen covered all the development costs of the DLC; all he needed was Activision Blizzard's sales channels and influence.

The two sides hit it off immediately!
For Activision Blizzard, the costs they invested were negligible; on the contrary, Zhang Chen was willing to split the profits from the expansion pack sales 50/50 with them.

It's like picking up money for free.

Such a good opportunity naturally warrants collaboration. In fact, Activision Blizzard even introduced Infinity Ward Studios to them. Infinity Ward Studios is the original studio behind the Call of Duty series, and they created the first Call of Duty game, as well as Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Making a large-scale game like Call of Duty can easily cost one or two hundred million US dollars, and in terms of economic and time costs, it is no less difficult than making an A-list movie blockbuster.

But it's not just an expansion pack; Zhong Lifang and Activision Blizzard agreed on a price of $3000 million.

Infinity Ward Studios is responsible for development. Of course, some modifications will be made. For example, a name will appear every time a character dies, and these names are those of soldiers who actually died in the Battle of Shanghai. Players are essentially playing the role of a real soldier who actually existed.

This kind of setting is actually not uncommon; Medal of Honor has done it quite often, but there aren't many games that focus on the Asian battlefield.

As for the issue of profitability, Zhang Chen hadn't really given it much thought.

Asian games suffer from severe piracy, but Zhang Chen spent $3000 million primarily to promote them internationally.

Just like how a country spends huge sums of money to host the Olympics, the main purpose is to let people around the world know about this part of China's history.

Good things come in pairs; the acquisition of Riot Games by the agency Zhang Chen had found is also progressing well.

For professional matters, you should find professionals to do them.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the agency, accounting firm, auditing firm, law firm, and other parties, the acquisition of the company's equity has finally entered the formal stage.

With his own side as witnesses, Zhang Chen signed his name on the document.

Star Entertainment spent $2430 million to acquire a 51% stake in Riot Games, becoming its largest shareholder. The employees' 5% stake remains unchanged, while the remainder will be split equally between Tencent and the founding team.

It's worth popping some champagne to celebrate!

With League of Legends as a cash cow, Star Entertainment will never be short of money.

……

Domestically, news of Zhang Chen investing heavily in developing a DLC for the Battle of Shanghai spread like wildfire.

It initially circulated only in the Call of Duty forums, but gradually people outside the gaming community also learned about it.

The most excited were the game fans.

real or fake?

Finally, a world-class game has a DLC with a Chinese background.

Gamers were excited, but more were puzzled; the news sounded like a rumor until Zhang Chen personally confirmed it on Weibo.

"Yes, we have already signed a contract with Activision Blizzard. They will provide the technology and assist us in completing the DLC development. What I am really worried about is organizing the data. I am taking this opportunity to appeal to the public on Weibo: are there any friends who are knowledgeable about the Battle of Shanghai and also understand the game? I urgently need your help."

This game is an experiment for me; I want more people to know about that period of our history.

Making money isn't really important, but I want to create high-quality products, and I hope talented people can help me out.

As the saying goes, "A single arrow piercing the clouds will summon a thousand armies!"

Zhang Chen publicly called for reinforcements, which caused an uproar online.

Many people offered suggestions and advice:

I don't know much about games, but I'm very familiar with the history of the Battle of Shanghai, and I can provide some information.
I studied game design, so I can help design game levels.
I'm a seasoned gamer, take my advice: this game must highlight the Chinese people's spirit of self-sacrifice and willingness to sacrifice themselves for others!
The topic quickly became a hot topic.

Star Entertainment has set up a new department specifically to handle this matter, and many people have joined the discussion.

Many people don't even understand what DLC is, but that doesn't stop them from discussing it enthusiastically.

Of course, some people also said, "I'm happy that you did this, but I'm not happy that you said you're not afraid of losing money."

Even if you don't care about making money, we can't let you lose money.

I've always played pirated games, but because of this time, I've decided to buy a legitimate copy to support you.
Many people are clamoring that this time they must support the official version no matter what.

That's how people are; once their emotions are aroused, they're willing to pay the price for them.

Just like with novels, free reading is the norm, but if a book is really well-written, some readers will be willing to pay for it.

The cultural industry is the same all over the world—games, novels, and movies are all the same. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying, "We all owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket"...

(End of this chapter)