Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 488 Movie Kingdom
The film "Her Indian Hero" expanded the popularity of Hollywood. Those film producers who wanted to find their own way out were attracted by Hollywood's superior natural location and developed transportation conditions, and came to Hollywood to start their own businesses.In addition, California is very far away from New Jersey, and it is difficult for Edison to control his patent rights here.There weren't that many of Edison's men in California, and even if he sent someone, the news would get out long ago, so that the Hollywood filmmakers could hide in nearby Mexico in time.

At the same time, Edison's deadly rival, Karl Remu, is also building a big project in Hollywood, and is preparing to create Universal Corporation, full of ambitions to become the new king of the film industry.On the contrary, Edison's film patent company, which was the catalyst for Hollywood, was declared an illegal trust by the American court and went bankrupt after only a few years of prosperity.

Under such circumstances, Edison thought of his backer Joe Group, and hoped to join hands with Qiao Zhiyong to establish a new film company and revive his majesty in the Hollywood film and television industry.

Two days later, Qiao Zhiyong and Edison met in an ordinary studio in Los Angeles.In addition to Edison, there were also the famous movie actress Miss Mary Pickford, and Mr. Edwin, the director of "The Great Train Robbery".

As if seeing a great savior, Edison held Qiao Zhiyong's hand tightly, and said excitedly, "You are finally here. Did you know? In the past two months, more than a dozen people, large and small, have poured into Los Angeles. For the film and television industry in the United States, this is definitely a golden treasure land. I can see very clearly that if we develop the film industry now, we will definitely achieve amazing achievements. But my company and I I have received hostility from the film industry in the United States because I hold the invention patent of film equipment. They joined forces and sued my company. Now I see the gold everywhere but can't do anything, so I have to rely on your Joe's Group." He was worried that the other party was not interested in the film business, so he took "The Great Train Robbery" as an example, chattering about the profit of the film, hoping to impress this powerful Chinese partner with his sincerity people.

Edison's film company began filming The Great Train Robbery last year.It took a year to create this 30-minute movie.This movie is adapted from a real robbery incident that happened in the United States in 1900. It is based on the real natural environment as the narrative background and the story of the robber who robbed the money of the passengers on the train and was finally chased by the police and punished. Highlights a composition with strong and tense external movements and conflicts.The film is divided into 14 sections, and each section is a part of a complete event captured by a single lens.There are several shots among them that show the narrative characteristics of the film very effectively.

This movie is much longer than the previous short films that were only a few minutes, at most 10 minutes.If other movies only describe some simple actions and simple scenes.Then, "The Great Train Robbery" uses the technique of movie montage to completely describe an event, time, place, character, event, cause, process, and result.And this kind of silent era movies will not be unappreciated because the audience does not understand English.

"The Great Train Robbery" was released in several theaters invested by the Los Angeles Edison Film Company, and it was an instant success and set off a movie-watching frenzy.Tickets for screenings are cheapest at 5 cents, or a nickel.This kind of cheap consumption makes it possible to operate a small theater in Los Angeles that can accommodate 200 people to watch movies.From six o'clock in the morning to late at night, the shows are almost full, which allows the theater to earn at least $500 in net profit a month.Moreover, in the wild era of movies, people never get tired of watching the same "The Great Train Robbery" every day. A considerable number of viewers often go to the theater to re-watch it over and over again. Audiences who have watched it dozens of times are very common.

This trend gradually affected the whole of Los Angeles. Some people pretended to be audiences and went to Yundong Edison Film Company to steal discarded film reels, and then copied them into new ones.These films can also be played by purchasing projectors in the market.Soon after, more "nickel theaters" began popping up in Los Angeles, a five-cent piece that allowed entry into small movie theaters to watch The Great Train Robbery.Almost all projection organizations have achieved good economic effects, featuring low investment and high profits. With an investment of 5 US dollars, the cost can be recovered in less than half a year.Then, you can keep making huge profits by showing the same movie over and over again.It can be seen how attractive the new product of film is!

"Mr. Qiao Zhiyong, you can go to any movie theater here to see it. All the movies are shown are "The Great Train Robbery", and there is a long queue in front of every movie theater. The damn thing is, Some guys dared to infringe on our movie patents, and obtained our film by stealing means. Without these people, this movie would have made more lucrative profits..." Edison was very angry, "These illegal screenings Movie guy, I'm going to take all of these people to court!"

After thinking about it, Edison suddenly thought: "No! Not only are these people not allowed to show movies illegally, but they are also not allowed to shoot movies illegally. I am the only one who successfully registered all movie-related patents in the United States!"

Qiao Zhiyong smiled. Facing this persistent inventor who was almost obstinate, he really couldn't laugh or cry, "Mr. Edison, I think you have misunderstood the US policy on films and patents."

"What? I misunderstood?" Edison's eyes widened, looking at Qiao Zhiyong in disbelief.

Qiao Zhiyong said patiently: "Mr. Edison, although rights protection should be done. However, your company is not the only one with film shooting and projection technology. There are also some companies in Britain, France and other countries that have advanced film shooting and projection technology."

"But in the United States, we are the only company. I asked the company's legal counsel. If I want to sue them, I can even get the court to rule that any company that shoots a movie, any company that broadcasts a movie violates our patent. Because, we The company owns all the film-related patents in the United States! Because my patent registration was relatively general at the beginning, it basically covers the rights and interests of all the processes of the current film from shooting, production to screening! Only we have obtained our authorization , It is legal to shoot and broadcast movies in the United States!" Edison was very persistent about this, "If we win the lawsuit, we can make this point clearer! From now on, unless the movie technology is completely out of my registered Patents and principles, otherwise, we monopolize movies!"

Qiao Zhiyong's face became gloomy, "Mr. Edison, are the laws of the United States made for you alone?"

Edison suddenly shook his head, not quite understanding what the other party meant.

"It was you who established a film patent company in the east, monopolized the film industry in the United States, and charged licensing fees to movie theaters and film manufacturers. As a result, a large number of people in the film industry fled from eastern cities to western Los Angeles as if they were fleeing, and in a small Hollywood In the end, this patent infringement gang formed a climate in Hollywood, but it was more viable than the regular film manufacturers authorized by Edison in the eastern cities." Qiao Zhiyong looked at the frustrated Edison and said: "The United States It claims to be the country with the most sound laws in the world, but don’t be superstitious about this. The United States will feel that your company has formed a monopoly or even an obstacle to the development of the film industry. It will not give up the United States just because it wants to protect your so-called legal rights. For the development of the film industry, in order to achieve the goal of breaking the monopoly, another law can be introduced at any time to deny your patent rights."

Edison completely lost his confidence, lowered his head and murmured: "Mr. Qiao Zhiyong, you are very right, but I am not reconciled. The film business I created with my own hands is divided up by others."

Qiao Zhiyong nodded and said with a smile: "The film industry is in the ascendant now. Compared with steel and oil, the scale is still small. Only by attracting many film companies to compete and everyone working together can it be possible to develop this industry. At the same time, we It can also achieve greater benefits. In the words of the imperial emperor, this is called 'making the cake bigger first'."

Edison thought for a while, and finally agreed.

"I want to buy the development rights of Hollywood Town for the same purpose. I want to use five to ten years to build Hollywood into a movie kingdom. If we are the only company in this kingdom, there is no way to develop. So I want to The most outstanding film companies in the United States and even the world have been absorbed, and only in this way can the cake of the film industry grow bigger, and in this process, we have always held the leadership of Hollywood, so what are you worried about?"

What Qiao Zhiyong said made Edison suddenly enlightened. He swept away the cloud just now, and said with flickering eyes: "My film company has been ruled bankrupt, so I want to start a new film company with you, and become a film kingdom in the future." The most powerful master of all."

"I'm here to discuss this matter with you. You don't have to use funds to invest in shares, just use the patent rights of your film equipment to invest in shares. I have estimated that in the new company, your shareholding ratio is still 30.00%, what do you think?"

"Is this okay? I can also buy shares with my patent rights, and I really don't need to pay a penny?" Edison was a little unbelievable.

"Of course, the United States doesn't pay much attention to your patent rights, but the Trader Joe's Group does. It's an intangible wealth."

"Okay, okay, of course I agree, shouldn't we give the new company a big name first?"

Qiao Zhiyong said without hesitation: "It's called 'China Film Company'!"

(End of this chapter)