Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 687 A great victory
Huayi Headquarters Building, Chairman's Office

The two brothers had just finished their work, so they simply had their secretary bring up some food and ate and chatted in the office. Naturally, their conversation revolved around Zhang Chen.

"Brother, what do you think Zhang Chen is really up to?"

Wang Zhonglei, the younger brother, poked at the vegetables in his bowl with his chopsticks, his brows furrowed into a deep frown: "Last night, he suddenly posted a nonsensical 'See you on Monday' message on Weibo, and now the whole internet is speculating about it."

Wang Zhongjun, the older brother, shook his head: "I don't know either."

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and lightly tapped the rim of the cup with his fingertips, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Do you think it might be related to the stock price? Since the market is closed for the weekend, that's why he said 'See you Monday'."

"You mean he's going to try and manipulate our stock price again on Monday?"

"I don't know, I'm just guessing."

"Think about it, do we have any leverage over him?"

"No, I'm quite sure of that. We're very careful in our work."

Then Wang Zhonglei thought of something: "Could it be that something's wrong with Global?"

Wang Zhongjun shook his head: "No, I just finished a call with them. They were very satisfied with our approach and even encouraged us to intensify our efforts."

Then, as if remembering something, a flash of anger crossed his face: "Damn it, these foreign devils really think they're our boss, ordering us around like this and that. If we weren't all in the same boat, I wouldn't even know who he is!"

Wang Zhonglei knew the true colors of those guys at Global Times—they were all arrogant and condescending—but he still advised, "Don't take them to heart. Didn't you teach me? As long as we get the benefits, their attitude doesn't matter."

Hearing his younger brother's words of advice, Wang Zhongjun nodded in satisfaction. His brother had finally grown up.

"Let me see what netizens are saying. Maybe someone can figure out what Zhang Chen is up to?"

Wang Zhonglei was still uneasy, so he started browsing the web.

There are talented people online who might be able to spot some clues.

Upon opening the webpage, I immediately exclaimed in amazement.

"Wow, Zhang Chen is really popular! He's already got over a million comments in no time!"

Wang Zhonglei continued browsing, while netizens were also discussing and speculating endlessly.

The hashtag "Zhang Chen's Monday reveal" has surged to the top of Weibo's trending topics list, followed by the word "explosive".

But it's normal that nothing they said hit the nail on the head. Even the Wang brothers, who have inside information, don't have a direction. With the limited channels netizens have for obtaining information, it's even more impossible for them to guess correctly.

"Alright, let's eat first. We can't guess the outcome anyway."

Wang Zhongjun picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and put it in his bowl. "Whether it's good or bad, let's stay calm and find out on Monday. Have my assistant keep a close eye on online public opinion and report any new developments immediately. Whatever Zhang Chen announces, we need to be prepared in advance."

Wang Zhonglei nodded in agreement; that was all he could do. He hoped Zhang Chen was just being deliberately mysterious.

Monday arrived, and everyone eagerly awaited Zhang Chen's new Weibo post.

The Wang brothers were also very nervous, wondering what Zhang Chen was up to.

Wang Zhonglei forced a calm demeanor: "After these two days of emergency public relations efforts, public opinion has temporarily stabilized, and the stock price did not continue to fall when the market opened this morning."

Wang Zhongjun nodded: "Well done. Did Zhang Chen say anything?"

Wang Zhonglei shook his head: "Not yet."

The two brothers remained silent; the feeling was unbearable, as if a sword of Damocles was hanging over their heads.

Just then, there was a rapid knock on the office door, and before anyone could answer, it was pushed open a crack, and the assistant poked his head in: "Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang, Zhang Chen posted a new Weibo post~"

Really talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here.

"What did he say? Let me see it!"

The two brothers didn't care about the assistant's rudeness; they were both eager to know what Zhang Chen had said as soon as possible.

The assistant brought in a laptop, opened it, and showed it to the two of them: "He posted a new Weibo post, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with us. It's about the soybean war."

Soybean War?

The two brothers noticed that Zhang Chen's Weibo post didn't mention Huayi at the beginning; instead, it started with the Sino-US soybean war from a few years ago.

He provided a detailed account of how the United States attempted to suppress Chinese agriculture through soybean trade, and how China fought back to protect its domestic soybean industry.

The text is easy to understand, the logic is clear, and it is accompanied by trade data and news report screenshots from that time, allowing many netizens who are not familiar with economic issues to understand the game involved.

What's the situation?
The two brothers were completely bewildered. Was this what they meant by "See you on Monday"?
They were on high alert all weekend, and this is what they got in return for "See you on Monday"?
The two brothers couldn't understand it, and neither could netizens.

"We're just having a normal business partnership! If a partnership is considered betrayal, then what about the partnership between Star Entertainment and Warner Bros.?"

Wang Zhonglei was also busy. He instructed his public relations team to draft a statement as soon as possible, while simultaneously calling his media friends to try and suppress the news.

"Brother, we can't just sit here and take the beating."

The online debate has intensified, forming two distinct camps.
One side supports Zhang Chen, believing that Huayi Brothers has indeed engaged in activities that harm the domestic cultural and entertainment industry and should be condemned.
The other side sided with Huayi, believing that Zhang Chen was exploiting nationalistic sentiments for publicity, and that commercial competition shouldn't escalate to such a level.
The two sides engaged in a fierce war of words in the comments section and forums, with all sorts of comments emerging and the situation briefly spiraling out of control.

It is one of the largest cinema chains in Asia, with a market share of over 50% in Southeast Asia.

In Malaysia, Golden Harvest operates jointly with local companies, capturing a 32% market share. In Thailand and Vietnam, Golden Harvest also secured 18% and 22% market share respectively through joint operations.

In the mainland market, Golden Harvest Cinemas' strength should not be underestimated either.

According to the latest data, Golden Harvest Cinemas has 182 cinemas in mainland China. Although this is less than China Film Stellar Cinemas' 246 cinemas, it has 1616 screens, far exceeding Wanda's 1251 screens.

More importantly, Golden Harvest Cinemas' operating revenue reached 53.39 billion yuan, which is more than Wanda Cinemas' 31 billion yuan and China Film Stellar's 18 billion yuan combined.

With such powerful cinema chains, banning a film is practically tantamount to sentencing it to death.

But it's not over.

Following this, Maoyan Movies also issued an announcement, declaring that it would remove the online ticketing channel for "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

At the headquarters of Eagle King Entertainment in Hong Kong, Huo Wenxi was sweating profusely with anxiety.

Eagle King was also one of the co-producers of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," and they put a lot of effort into the film.

Upon learning that Golden Harvest and Maoyan had banned "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," Huo Wenxi immediately called Chen Xi.

Chen Xi is the CEO of Jiahe and Zhang Chen's right-hand man. Huo Wenxi hopes to contact Zhang Chen through Chen Xi to negotiate a solution to the matter.

I called again and again, but no one answered.

Huo Wenxi then quickly contacted his other connections in the industry, trying to get through to Golden Harvest and Maoyan, but the replies he received were all, "This is an order from above, there's nothing we can do."

He later learned from a well-informed insider that the person who issued the ban order was none other than Zhang Chen himself.

Both Golden Harvest and Maoyan are owned by Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen intends to impose a complete ban on "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" and his attitude is firm, leaving no room for negotiation.

Supporters expressed their opinions, saying things like, "Brother Chen is right," "We can't be soft-hearted when dealing with this kind of person," and "An apology is out of the question."

If Huayi Brothers loses Golden Harvest Cinemas as a crucial distribution channel, it will be difficult for its future films to gain a foothold in the market.

The movie is fine, but the most crucial thing is that Golden Harvest Cinemas is clearly determined to fight Huayi Brothers to the death. Wouldn't Huayi Brothers' stock price plummet like it's having diarrhea?
Left with no other option, Huayi Brothers turned to government oversight, hoping the Film Bureau would intervene and stop Zhang Chen and Jiahe's "bullying behavior."

However, the response from the Film Bureau completely disappointed the Wang brothers.

The Film Bureau stated that Golden Harvest Cinemas' boycott was a market-driven action, and they had no right to interfere.

In fact, there are reasons why the Film Bureau has adopted this attitude.

On the one hand, Zhang Chen had just received an Oscar nomination for "Global Times 2," bringing glory to the country and holding a pivotal position in the domestic entertainment industry, so the Film Bureau did not want to offend him easily.

On its opening day in Hong Kong, the film grossed a paltry HK$30, failing to even crack the top ten at the box office.

In mainland China, although some non-Golden Harvest cinemas screened the film, the box office was dismal due to Maoyan removing the ticket purchase channel and the negative publicity in the early stages. In two weeks, the box office barely reached 3000 million yuan, which was not even enough to cover a fraction of the production cost. It was a complete flop.

The disastrous failure of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" shocked the entire Hong Kong film industry.

Film companies in Hong Kong were all on edge, and no one dared to hire Huayi for distribution anymore.

Several film projects that had been agreed upon with Huayi Brothers were suddenly cancelled, with the companies terminating their cooperation with Huayi Brothers for fear of following in the footsteps of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

Faced with such a dire situation, Wang Zhonglei tentatively suggested, "How about we reconcile with Zhang Chen? At least surrendering would mean losing half the battle."

But Wang Zhongjun firmly disagreed: "Reconciliation?"

Wang Zhongjun stared wide-eyed and said excitedly, "You think this is a poker game? You're going to surrender and lose half?"

Haven't you read "Water Margin"? Surrendering means certain death!
Since Zhang Chen dared to use such deadly force against us, he has no intention of letting us go. Our only way out now is to fight him to the death; we absolutely cannot admit defeat!

Looking at his brother's determined eyes, Wang Zhonglei knew that saying more would be pointless.

He sighed, sat back in his seat, and felt lost.

He didn't know how long this war with Zhang Chen would last, nor did he know where the future of Huayi Brothers lay.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened, just like Huayi's current predicament, with not a glimmer of light in sight.

At the headquarters of Star Entertainment, Zhang Chen stood by the office window, looking at the lights of thousands of homes in the distance.

Zhong Lifang walked in and handed him a document: "Boss, Huayi's latest stock price report and market share analysis."

Zhang Chen took the document, quickly glanced through it, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"well done."

Zhang Chen said, "Tell Jiahe and Maoyan to remain vigilant and not give Huayi any chance to turn things around. They also need to continue to increase their investment in online trolls."

Zhang Chen turned around, looked at Zhong Lifang, and said with a firm look in his eyes: "I know that I don't want to kill him in one go, but I want everyone to know the consequences of being a lackey of foreign countries."

If I'm not mistaken, negotiations for a US-China film agreement have already begun. The number of American blockbusters imported into China each year will definitely increase. This is a cultural defense battle, and we must win, not only for our domestic entertainment industry but also for ourselves.

Zhong Lifang nodded emphatically, "We will all stand with you."

He knew that Zhang Chen was right.

In this war, they had no way out but to forge ahead.

(End of this chapter)