Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 404 New Year’s Eve

"Brother Meng Bai, do you really have as much money as the news says?"

The premiere hadn't started yet, and Zhao Jinmai, who had nothing to do, stood around Meng Bai and asked curiously.

"Don't listen to the nonsense on the Internet. I can't even take out 200 yuan from my pocket right now." Meng Bai read it out loud and replied randomly.

Zhao Jinmai didn't take it seriously, and seemed to just want to find someone familiar to chat with: "I also saw online that Pinduoduo was also opened by you."

"If you run for president of the United States, I will definitely vote for you, and then I will give Apple, Nvidia and the like to me."

"So no?"

"Of course not, I just have a small stake."

"Well, if you are a shareholder, then you don't have to spend money to buy things on Pinduoduo?"

"I have a super account, just like your QQ. I have all kinds of red, green, colorful, and black diamonds. When I buy something, the backend sees this account and pays for me directly."

"Is it true?" Zhao Jinmai's already big eyes widened even more.

She had just made a childish joke - high school students are not elementary school students, how could they not know what an e-commerce website is - but she didn't expect Meng Bai's answer to be too fluent, and it didn't sound completely illogical, which made her unable to help but become suspicious again.

Looking at Zhao Jinmai who looked suspicious, Meng Bai couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart.

It’s no wonder that little girls are so gullible. They could actually think seriously about a question that sounded ridiculous for so long.

While he was enjoying deceiving the little girl, a crew member came running over to tell him that La Peikang and his team had arrived.

Speaking of which, compared to other star-studded movie premieres during this year's Spring Festival, today's press conference for "The Wandering Earth" can be said to be both low-key and grand.

What’s low-key is that apart from the leading actors and creators of the show, there were basically no other stars present, and there were no entertainment activities such as the red carpet.

What was grand was that industry leaders like La Peikang, the head of China Film Group, Song Ge, the president of Beijing North Culture, Zhang Bo, the vice president of Maoyan Entertainment, and Meng Bai, all came to the scene to show their support.

After greeting everyone and chatting about the movie's pre-sale box office data, it was almost time for the show to start.

"Are you still thinking about it?" Meng Bai called out to Zhao Jinmai, who seemed to be deep in thought. "Get ready, the premiere is about to begin."

"okay."

Zhao Jinmai responded, and when he walked past Meng Bai, he couldn't help but ask, "Brother Meng Bai, can I recharge your super account? Or is it only available to you guys?"

The corners of Meng Bai's mouth twitched, and he said in a steady tone: "No need to top up, if you want me to give you one."

"real?!"

"Of course, the method is very simple." Meng Bai said sincerely: "First, you register an account, then bind a bank card, and choose bank card payment. In the future, as long as there is money on the card, the website backend will pay directly when you buy something."

"Ah? Then... won't the money on the card still be deducted?"

"Yes, I only said to pay on your behalf, which means to pay on your behalf. I didn't say that you don't have to spend any money."

"..."

Meng Bai spread his hands with a smile, then left happily while the little girl looked confused.

Zhao Jinmai finally realized that she had been deceived, and she was filled with anger, but she couldn't rush up to him to settle the score. She could only frown at the back of this "evil big brother", and at the same time remember this matter in her heart, waiting for a chance to "take revenge" in the future.

……

The premiere press conference of The Wandering Earth was quite simple. Since it was still a week away from the official release, there was no movie-watching session. Only the main creators such as Guo Fan and Wu Jing came on stage to talk about the production process of the film, and then the leading actors talked about their role experience.

The original author of the novel, Liu Cixin, was also invited to the event and praised the adapted movie highly.

It has to be said that apart from Wu Jing, no one in the entire "The Wandering Earth" crew is more popular than this "fishing master". Therefore, after the release of the promotional video and press release of the movie premiere, it attracted many science fiction fans.

Originally, many of Liu Cixin’s fans were not very optimistic about this movie. After all, there was the previous "Three-Body" movie which has not been released yet, so who knows whether it will be reliable this time.

But when Liu Cixin praised the movie on the spot, his expression was very sincere, and it was obviously different from the "hesitant to speak" expression that year, and it didn't look like he was just speaking for show.

Therefore, with the endorsement of the original author, many people have higher expectations for the movie.
-
After the Little New Year, the countdown to the Spring Festival officially began. Students had already had their winter vacations, and most workers had started packing up their things, preparing to go home for the New Year.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve.

It was a rare occasion that Meng Bai did not go home this year, mainly because Meng's parents had decided to visit relatives on New Year's Day and then fly directly to Italy for vacation with friends.

Meng Bai had no objection to this at all, and told the two elders that they could just play outside and use their son's card if they needed anything.

At least, this way he won't be reminded of things like "start a family as soon as you establish your career."

It’s not that he doesn’t want to start a family, it’s just that he is a philanthropic person, so he wants to give each of those beautiful girls a warm home.

Although he had to stay in Beijing North, he was not lonely. Guo Fan and Gongger were also staying in Beijing North this year because they were busy with the film. Meng Bai planned to have a New Year's Eve dinner with them.

"Hey, where have you been?"

"Still in the company, haven't started yet."

"Mr. Meng, do you really need to be so dedicated?" The person who called was Guo Fan. "Your sister-in-law and her friends have started making dumplings. Hurry up and come over."

"Okay, I'll leave now."

Meng Bai responded and hung up the phone. After reading the remaining files on the computer, he stood up and prepared to pack up and leave.

It was already dark outside, but there were still many lights on in the Arclight Films building. Although the company had been closed since yesterday, there were still some local employees or employees who didn't want to go home and stayed to work overtime.

After all, five times the overtime pay during the Chinese New Year is still very attractive.

When Meng Bai reached the company gate and was about to leave, his cell phone suddenly rang. He looked at the caller's name and couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Boss Li, Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Teacher Meng." Li Yitong's smiling voice came from the phone.

It sounded very quiet from her end, and it seemed that she was alone. Meng Bai walked out and asked casually, "What are you doing?"

"I'm watching a stupid guy trying to get on the bus."

Meng Bai, who was about to open the car door, was stunned when he heard this, then took a step outside and looked around.

Sure enough, not far from the gate, a petite figure wearing a black windbreaker and a blue scarf waved at him, then walked slowly towards him.

"Clang clang! Surprise inspection. Teacher Meng is not planning to go out and have dinner with a little girl, right?" Li Yitong stood in front of Meng Bai and teased with a sweet smile.

"I do have this plan." Meng Bai replied, and then asked with some surprise: "I thought you were still in the crew." Li Yitong is currently filming "The Undocumented Crime" in Harbin. It just started around New Year's Day and it will take at the earliest to be completed by the end of February.

"It's Chinese New Year, so the crew will have a day off tomorrow and we'll wrap up early today. I checked the flight time and it's just in time for me to fly back."

"How did you know I was in the company?"

Li Yitong raised her eyebrows proudly: "Hehe, then I naturally have my own way."

"Huahua told you?"

"No, this little girl is wearing the same pants as you now, and she said she didn't know anything I asked her."

Li Yitong replied angrily, and then explained: "Actually, I don't know either. I just planned to come here to take a look, so I didn't call you again. I didn't expect to see you when I got off the car just now."

"What do you mean by wearing the same pants as me? Huahua chose to stand on the side of justice and did not accept the instigation of your former boss." Meng Bai smiled proudly, then took her arm and said, "Let's go, get in the car first, and then go to have the New Year's Eve dinner together."

Fortunately, it was not too late at this time, so Meng Bai called Guo Fan first and apologized to explain that he had something to do and would not go over.

As a person who has experienced this, Guo Fan knew that this situation must be related to the girl. He smiled and said it was okay, and reminded him to "be careful".

"Who?"

Li Yitong asked curiously when she saw Meng Bai put down the phone.

"Director Guo Fan, I told you before."

"Oh, I remember." Li Yitong said, "Your sci-fi movie will be released tomorrow, right? How much is the pre-sale box office now?"

"About 25 million or so." This was the data given by Maoyan this morning.

Li Yitong smiled and said, "It sounds like there are quite a lot..."

Meng Bai let out a long sigh: "The pre-sales of "Speeding Life" and "The New King of Comedy" are more than 50 million, and "Crazy Alien" is 65 million!"

"Ah, that's it..."

Li Yitong smiled awkwardly. She had not made many movies, so she didn't know much about this aspect. When she heard that the pre-sale alone was 25 million, she thought this result was very good.

In fact, if it is placed in normal times, this result is indeed quite good. But when compared horizontally, it seems a bit embarrassing.

The four big-budget movies of the Spring Festival are called the "Top Four of the Spring Festival" by the audience. Unfortunately, judging from the pre-sale data, there is a huge gap between the fourth place and the first three.

Fortunately, Meng Bai and his team had expected this result, so they were not disappointed. But the gap was so big that they still felt a little sad.

"It's okay!" Li Yitong raised her voice and encouraged Meng Bai: "Many movies in the past were not well received at the beginning, but were later supported by the audience. I believe that the quality of your movie will definitely be fine, and it will improve later."

"Okay, I'll take your good words." Meng Bai said with a smile, "If the box office is good, I'll give you a 'Meng's Exclusive Massage'."

"Tsk, who wants your cheap massage?"

Li Yitong rolled her eyes at him, took out her phone and looked at it for a while before suddenly saying, "Hey, your movie has a midnight show tonight. How about we go watch it together after dinner? I'll support you with two tickets first."

"Okay."

It is said that the trend of social development is very fast. I remember that when Li Yitong went to Meng Bai's house on New Year's Day a few years ago, it was difficult to find a restaurant open outside. Now, even on New Year's Eve, the street is still brightly lit.

Meng Bai looked at the streets filled with people and couldn't help but feel full of confidence in "The Wandering Earth".

The world is developing, and the audience's viewing level is also improving. The demand for large-scale science fiction themes is inevitable. Therefore, from the perspective of the entire film and television industry, "The Wandering Earth" will be considered a success as long as it can make back its investment.

The two of them found a place to eat something, then walked around for a while, lingering until after eleven o'clock before heading towards the cinema.

After all, it is northern Beijing, and most of the larger cinemas in the city have arranged midnight shows, so Meng Bai and his friends went to Wanda.

Ever since its failed attempt to snatch the "Malaysia" project overseas, Wanda has had a hard time in recent years and has basically been living on the seller's bottom line, and Wanda Cinemas has also been affected.

Coupled with the current cold winter of the film and television industry, I'm afraid they will have an even harder time this year.

Meng Bai had actually considered before whether or not to get involved in the first-hand cinema chain. After all, channels are an important part of any industry.

However, cinemas are asset-heavy, requiring a lot of capital, and the market is basically saturated, so it is difficult to build a new cinema chain. So if you really want to, you have to start with the existing cinema chains.

The previous break in the funding chain of Star Cinema was a good opportunity, but Meng Bai didn't have much money at the time, and Arclight's roots in the film industry were still shallow, so he didn't take action.

Moreover, the film and television industry is currently on a downward trend and is far from reaching the bottom. There are plenty of high-quality and low-priced assets, so there is no need to rush to consider cinemas.

"What are you thinking about?"

After getting the tickets, Li Yitong came back and saw Meng Bai concentrating on thinking. One look at his expression told her that he must be thinking about work again: "It's the New Year and you can't take a break. No wonder you can make money."

Meng Bai, who was awakened, smiled when he heard this and temporarily put the cinema chain behind his mind: "Of course I have to make money, otherwise how can I support you."

"Hehe, I'm easy to support myself. I don't know who will support the extra ones." Li Yitong snorted.

"Haha... these movie tickets are quite expensive." Meng Bai wisely changed the subject.

However, the price of movie tickets has obviously increased this year. The main reason is that the previous "new film and television regulations" cancelled the ticket subsidy policy of online sales platforms such as Tao Piaopiao and Maoyan to avoid the phenomenon of spending money to grab the market and "inflating the box office".

The biggest beneficiaries of this regulation are producers and distributors like Arclight. After all, ticket prices have increased, but the audience's viewing habits have remained. With the same number of viewers, the box office can be higher.

Meng Bai changed the subject. Before Li Yitong could say anything, she heard a low whisper coming from the side.
"Pfft - hey shit, did you hear that guy next to me just now? That's so funny. He said earlier that he was still working to support his girlfriend during the Chinese New Year. I thought that was how much he must earn, but then I saw a movie ticket for 80 yuan and thought it was expensive, haha..."

Meng Bai and Li Yitong looked in the direction of the voice. They saw two boys talking not far away. They looked young, one was tall and thin, and the other was of medium height.

The person who just spoke was the tall and thin boy. It was obvious that he was afraid of being heard, so he lowered his voice on purpose. However, it was quiet late at night at the midnight show, so he was still heard.

"Did you hear that, you stingy guy." Li Yitong poked the man next to her, her eyes curved and she smiled like the crescent moon tonight.

Meng Bai was not angry, and said with a smile: "Yes, so a poor guy like me has to ask Boss Li to support me."

"Okay, okay, then you have to perform well, haha."

The two people's voices were not loud, but they were heard in the quiet hall.

The tall and thin boy naturally heard it, and immediately felt embarrassed for being caught talking bad about someone behind their back. But then, he heard Li Yitong's laughter again, and suddenly he felt like he was shot with an arrow.

The middle-sized boy next to him glanced at his friend and added mercilessly: "At least he has a girl to accompany him, but I am the only one accompanying you on New Year's Eve. I don't know who should laugh at whom."

"I, you, fuck!"

(End of this chapter)