Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 450 Several Companies' 2013 Plans
The box office success of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" had a significant impact on the careers of several people.

First is Stephen Chow.

Stephen Chow, who had been relatively quiet since "CJ7," has once again become one of the most sought-after directors in the Chinese film industry.

He received numerous film offers.

Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media, and even Emperor Entertainment Group in Hong Kong have all contacted him privately, hoping to collaborate with them on his next film.

Unfortunately, Wu Zhuo had anticipated this situation long ago.

When Legendary Entertainment invested in Stephen Chow, they promised him 8000 million in dividends, on the condition that he would have to collaborate with Legendary Entertainment on his next two films.

Only after he stops investing in Legendary Entertainment can he look for other companies.

Otherwise, he would be considered to have breached the contract.

Besides Stephen Chow, Huang Bo, who played Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West", also rose to become a top-tier actor in China because of this film.

Although he wasn't the lead actor in his previous films, "Lost in Thailand" and "Journey to the West," his box office appeal has only grown stronger.

Many movie fans are very willing to go to the cinema to watch his movies.

This made him one of the most bankable actors in the country.

Then, Wu Zhuo was naturally affected by this movie.

The box office success of "Journey to the West" practically cemented Wu Zhuo's legendary status.

It's truly a divine achievement.

Painted Skin, Fleet of Time, Ip Man, Ip Man 2, plus this Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.

For five consecutive films, Wu Zhuo's box office revenue never fell below 300 million RMB.

This completely elevated Wu Zhuo to a god-like status.

At this moment, he was like the "Double Chow and Jackie Chan" of the 1980s and 90s.

Even Jet Li had to step back.

Looking at the current Chinese film industry, he is the only actor to have achieved this feat for many consecutive years.

Therefore, without a doubt, the media has deified Wu Zhuo.

What is the most influential actor in the 21st century Chinese film industry? What is the actor with the greatest box office appeal?

It's said that any movie starring him is guaranteed to be a box office hit.

Various opinions flooded the internet.

In this rather superficial era, such remarks immediately gained popularity among almost everyone.

In that instant, Wu Zhuo seemed to have truly become a god in the Chinese film industry.

The film company, producers, directors—almost everyone believed that as long as Wu Zhuo was brought in, the film would definitely be a box office hit.

This belief is not merely lip service, but comes from real money and material investment.

First, Huayi Brothers invited Wu Zhuo to star in "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon".

For this, they offered Wu Zhuo a salary of 90 million yuan plus 5% of the box office revenue.

The same goes for the light; Wang Changtian personally called Wu Zhuo.

They promised that as long as Wu Zhuo acted in their company's movies, he could ask for whatever salary he wanted, and of course, he would still receive a share of the box office revenue.

To be honest, if it were someone else, like Wu Jing, he might have really gotten carried away by all this.

But Wu Zhuo did not.

Wu Zhuo was a man who had seen a lot of money.

He is now worth over 10 billion, and still has over 1 billion in cash flow.

He has seen a lot of money and has also mingled in the highest circles.

Faced with this kind of ostentatious adulation, he not only did not get carried away, but instead became quiet and began to live a secluded life.

Wu Zhuo firmly believes in one principle.

That is, there is no eternal God.

Especially in the entertainment industry.

In this cycle where the new generation surpasses the old, and the old generation dies on the beach.

You may be mythologized, but you will never be a myth.

Even Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow, once their era of fame passed, could only fall from their pedestals.

Wu Jing is an even more exemplary example.

Seventeen years later, Wu Jing was also elevated to a pedestal by the audience and the media.

During that period, if you said anything negative about Wu Jing online, a bunch of people would curse you in the comments.

Everyone regarded Wu Jing as a hero.

After a series of successes, he was almost deified.

But what about after 2025?

As if overnight, Wu Jing was suddenly dragged down from his pedestal and became the target of ridicule.

Two interviews from 15 and 17, which no one found fault with, became a catalyst.

Not only should they be brought down from their pedestal, but they should also be thoroughly trampled on.

Those who used to regard him as a hero no longer see him as a hero; instead, they have become the most vicious attackers of him.

Public opinion in the new century is the most difficult to please.

This is Wu Zhuo's most profound realization.

A few years ago, when the internet was not so developed, public opinion was easily controlled.

But with the widespread availability of the internet, no matter how much capital you have, you can no longer control public opinion.

In a few more years, it will be even more obvious.

After China became one of the world's leading countries, all sorts of monsters and demons lurked on the internet.

Various opinions have swayed easily swayed netizens, leading to waves of idol-making and idol-slaying movements online.

Wu Zhuo did not want to become the target of the god-slaying.

Therefore, all he can do is keep a low profile, keep a low profile, and keep a low profile even more.

To be honest, it's really not a matter of whether you have money or not.

However, if you don't keep a low profile, no matter what you do, you will be tainted by the internet's interpretation.

It's a matter of principle, a matter of morality.

Even if you just smoke a cigarette, you will be seen as a sinner in the online world.

Sometimes, Wu Zhuo would wonder if, later on, even breathing would be wrong.

……

The box office performance of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" continues to be a hit.

And the Spring Festival arrived as scheduled.

This year, Wu Zhuo's family and Liu Shishi's family spent the Spring Festival together.

The two families now basically consider each other as in-laws.

Oh! By the way, Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi's wedding date has been set.

It was set for July 11th.

This date was chosen by comparing the birth dates and times of the two people.

Then the date in the Gregorian calendar is also auspicious, signifying single-mindedness.

Neither Wu Zhuo nor Liu Shishi are in a hurry to get married yet.

Aside from the new house, everything else for a wedding needs to be prepared closer to the wedding date.

So at this stage, neither of them is worrying about this matter.

I had a comfortable and relaxing New Year.

Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi only started working on the ninth day of the lunar month.

Yes, this year should be the longest annual leave Wu Zhuo has taken in recent years.

This may be related to the fact that he has become a bit lazy.

That's how people are; once they have enough to eat and wear and their careers have reached a peak, they start to become lazy.

Although Wu Zhuo did not enter a semi-retired state like Zhou Jielun in later generations.

But they also started to gradually reduce their activities...

A new year begins, and everything is new.

Wu Zhuo began holding various meetings with the managers of several companies that currently held the largest shares to discuss the company's plans for the new year.

We also summarized last year.

During this period, Wu Zhuo arranged for Liu Shishi to work at Legend Entertainment as the deputy director of the television department.

It wasn't that Wu Zhuo didn't want to arrange a higher-level position for her right away. It was just that it wouldn't be suitable.

Liu Shishi was an artist before, and being suddenly parachuted into a higher position could easily cause resentment among the company's original senior management.

If she doesn't understand the company's operating model beforehand, she might be treated like a mascot if she suddenly takes the position.

At the same time, there is also the possibility that she may lose control of the situation.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo's idea was to arrange a mid-to-high-level position for her so that she could first understand the company's operating model.

She can be promoted after she has accumulated some experience and understands the company's operations.

Of course, Wu Zhuo also made things clear to Liu Shishi.

If she is not up to the task, then she should come back and be a good wife.

……

Although Wu Zhuo invested in many projects.

But currently, there are only a few.

Legendary Entertainment, Maoyan, Baofeng, and ByteDance.

Legendary Entertainment has already entered a formal stage.

The plan for 2013 was simple: first, to plan the promotion and release of projects such as "Unbeatable", "John Wick", and "Holo Tree".

Among them, "Holo Tree" is an art film, a trial project for the company to see if it could achieve some success in the art film genre.

Then there's the filming plan for this year.

Legendary Entertainment will produce significantly more films this year than in previous years due to ample funding following its IPO.

The films that Legendary needs to prepare this year include:
Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2", Huang Bo and Xu Zheng's "Breakup Buddies", Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" starring Wang Baoqiang, Han Han's "The Continent", Deng Chao and Yang Mi's "The Breakup Guru", etc.

Some of these films are planned for release this year, some next year, and some may take several years from preparation to filming and release.

However, all of these projects will be approved this year.

Han Han is worth mentioning here.

A few years ago, when Wu Zhuo was buying up novel copyrights on a large scale, the film and television rights to Han Han's novels were all bought by his copyright company.

Then, unlike other novelists who sell their works for money, this guy is very goal-oriented.

A condition was given directly.

We can have his copyright, but we must invest in him to direct the film.

For this reason, he was even willing to give up a portion of the copyright fees.

Wu Zhuo, who had traveled from the future, naturally knew that he would have a promising future in the field of directing.

So they agreed to his terms.

The main investor was his film, "The Continent".

In fact, the preparation time for Han Han's film "The Continent" was quite long.

He had already started preparing for this project several years ago.

This year, the project was officially put on paper and is ready to begin filming...

In contrast to Legendary Entertainment's simple and direct approach.

The situation is more complicated with Maoyan and Baofeng.

Both companies operate in highly competitive industries.

It's a matter of either moving forward or falling behind.

To ensure that both companies can make further progress in the market this year, Wu Zhuo has focused most of his attention on these two companies.

First, there's the cat's eye.

After 13 years, Maoyan finally reached a cooperation agreement with all cinemas across the country to provide them with online ticketing services.

Meanwhile, in order to further enhance its competitiveness, Maoyan began developing self-service ticket machines.

This is no small project.

Not only is research and development expensive, but the production of self-service ticket machines also requires substantial investment.

However, currently, thanks to Wu Zhuo's foresight, Maoyan has taken the lead over ticketing platforms such as Meituan.

The most significant proof is that during this year's Lunar New Year film season, Maoyan's ticket sales have jumped to first place among all platforms, and its concert ticket sales rank first.

Maoyan collected as much as 80 million RMB in service fees from this.

Although Maoyan is not yet profitable, it has already started generating revenue.

And together with Maoyan, they became number one in the industry.

Baofeng Player is currently in a very difficult situation.

There are just too many video platforms in China.

Even with Wu Zhuo's massive buying spree in the copyright market last year.

In terms of copyright advantages, Baofeng still has a slight edge over other platforms.

Therefore, this year, in addition to continuing to cultivate the copyright market, Baofeng has also put the production of its own dramas on the agenda.

At the end of February, "Candle in the Tomb: The Wrath of Time," a TV series primarily invested in by Baofeng and co-produced by Daylight Entertainment under Legendary Entertainment, officially began filming.

As the company's CEO, Wu Zhuo personally appeared to help promote the company.

This version of "The Wrath of Xiangxi" has a significantly different cast compared to the previous one.

The role of Blind Chen was given to Chen Kun.

He was invited to keep things quiet.

In order to hire him, Storm even had to increase its budget from the originally planned 50 million to 70 million.

Chen Kun alone received 30 million yuan in film remuneration.

Well, in fact, this salary is only average.

Since Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media, and Legendary Entertainment went public, the entertainment industry has become the most profitable place.

Hot money from major capital groups poured in.

This directly resulted in actors' salaries changing every day.

Chen Kun is currently valued at 30 million.

It was only because Wu Zhuo helped mediate that he was able to participate in the bidding, otherwise he probably wouldn't have even offered 3000 million.

Because most people currently believe that web series belong to the lower class and are not as good as TV series.

Besides Chen Kun playing the lead role, the supporting role of Partridge Whistle was played by Zhu Yilong, who is currently still struggling at the bottom of society.

At that time, only Wu Zhuo was willing to give Zhu Yilong a chance.

Otherwise, he would have had to struggle at the bottom for another two years.

Of course, the company didn't give Zhu Yilong this role out of kindness.

It's not because he's an artist under Legendary Entertainment.

Not only him, but most of the other artists in this drama are actually from the same company.

With a company as large as Legendary, it's no surprise that they have a lot of artists signed.

Naturally, once they join, the company has to train them.

There's a saying: "Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders!"

The web series "The Wrath of Xiangxi" surprisingly cast Chen Kun as the lead actor.

Meanwhile, the investment reached as high as 70 million.

This is absolutely unique in the industry.

This caused a great sensation throughout the industry.

Baofeng also took this opportunity to issue a recruitment notice, inviting small companies in the industry to produce web series for Baofeng.

In order to attract viewers, Baofeng directly devised a plan to categorize web series into different tiers.

The so-called "tier" refers to the tier system used by companies that produce web series when they sell the series to Baofeng Video.

From D-level to S-level.

The price varies for each tier.

Among them, even the lowest-tier D-level episodes were priced at 5 yuan per episode by Baofeng.

The highest is as high as 50 per episode.

This is more than double the price that other platforms are currently charging for online dramas.

This move by Baofeng directly spurred a large number of frustrated small directors and small production companies.

According to incomplete statistics.

Since March, the number of online dramas approved for production in China has more than tripled compared to last year.

And this is just the beginning.

(End of this chapter)