sbdcsierra Chapter 284 Holding a Grudge
Chapter 284 Holding a Grudge
Shenzhen, on the banks of the Shenchuan River.
Inside the president's office at Vanke's headquarters, Wang Shi's face was extremely gloomy, and the cigar he was holding had long since burned out.
"That young man, Li Feng, is far too vengeful."
Wang Shi was filled with regret and anger.
He never expected that all he did was laugh at his poor fishing skills and call him a noob.
Previously, when Weibo was flooded with negative information about him being a live-in son-in-law, he stubbornly refused to respond in order to save face.
But Li Feng is so vengeful; that's a whole 10 billion!
The flames of the Vanke-Baoneng battle have reached Vanke's very doorstep.
"If you, Li Feng, think that this little bit of trouble is enough to bring me down in Shenchuan..."
"Then you've seriously underestimated the power and resources of my kingdom!!"
Although he was nominally just a professional manager, his roots in this Shenzhen area were deeper than anyone could imagine.
As early as 1983, he had already become a local strongman in this land and founded the predecessor of Vanke.
His father-in-law, who had passed away two years prior, was an absolute authority in Fukagawa back then.
Over thirty years of painstaking effort, the network of relationships left to him by his father-in-law, and the circle of friends he built on this land, have become deeply intertwined.
Even though the old folks are gone, the bond of kinship and those old friends can still exert an unimaginable power!
"Xiao Liu," Wang Shi coldly ordered his secretary beside him.
"Make arrangements for a banquet tonight at the clubhouse in Shekou. Invite a few old friends from the district over."
……
Just as the Vanke-Baoneng battle was tearing each other apart in the capital market.
On the battlefield of the big screen, the highly anticipated blockbuster "Lost in Hong Kong," produced by Haofeng Films and hailed by countless cinemas and netizens, has also reached the moment of its conclusion.
As the official sequel to "Lost in Thailand," which broke Chinese film history records, and with the strong addition of Zhao Da Yan, a national-level actress, the film performed extremely well in its opening week thanks to its increased screenings and promotional efforts.
however.
When the final box office figures were released more than a month after the film's release.
The atmosphere within the film industry and Haofeng Film & Television is somewhat delicate.
The final box office figure for "Lost in Hong Kong" was 16.5 billion RMB!
Although this figure did indeed break the record of 13 billion yuan held by the previous film "Lost in Thailand" as the highest-grossing domestic film.
However, from the perspective of the entire Chinese film industry, compared to "Monster Hunt," which raked in 24.4 billion yuan at the summer box office...
The difference in box office performance is enormous.
"The counterattack failed..."
"Xu Zheng ultimately failed to wrest the crown of the greatest film in history back from Tencent."
The media and film critics outside the film are discussing it extensively. Netizens, seeing the negative reviews of "Lost in Hong Kong" for being "vulgar, forcibly sentimental, and with supporting characters being extremely awkward," have also expressed their feelings on Weibo that the "Lost" series is declining.
However, despite not receiving the same critical acclaim as its predecessor, "Lost in Hong Kong" still maintains a generally positive public opinion. After all, with an investment of 3 million and a box office of 16.5 billion, it is a very successful film project by any measure.
however.
The outside world only saw the box office miracle of 16.5 billion.
But no one knows what a terrible backlash from the bet is behind this impressive data!
After all, the betting agreement is clearly written in black and white: the box office target is 18 billion!
The current figure of 16.5 billion yuan signifies the failure of the bet!
According to the punitive clause of the performance-based agreement, Haofeng Films' share of the box office revenue of "Lost in Hong Kong" was automatically increased from the original 50% to 60%!
A full 10% of the box office revenue was ruthlessly taken away by Haofeng's legal team after the deal was finalized!
In addition, there was that punitive IP licensing fee of ten million RMB.
This backlash cost Xu Zheng nearly 70 million RMB for nothing!
If this were an ordinary director, he would probably be so heartbroken that he would have jumped off a building.
But to everyone's surprise, Xu Zheng showed no sign of panic.
"Seventy million? Taking a cut will hurt a bit, but this time I'm guaranteed a profit!"
He knows all too well how to avoid risks in this world of fame and fortune!
Even during the film's preparation and shooting stages, he took the art of saving money to the extreme.
They didn't give Wang Baobao a share of the box office revenue, and instead gave him a cheaper package deal.
They filmed all the Hong Kong street scenes in the Xiapi Film City, and even saved money on costumes, props, and equipment rentals wherever possible.
With a production budget of nearly 300 million, he used various reasonable losses and related transactions, plus the portion he swindled from Zhao Daye, to leave a profit margin of more than 80 million!
In addition, there's his own guaranteed 20% commission.
Even though he lost the bet, he still made hundreds of millions from the "Lost in Hong Kong" project, making a fortune and getting out unscathed.
As for Zhao Daye, who was tricked by him?
Although Erben Pictures spent a lot of money on investment and Zhao Daye's salary, it also lost some money on revenue sharing.
But in this game of capital, she is also a winner!
The box office success of "Lost in Hong Kong" not only boosted the stock price of Erben Films, but more importantly, it allowed Xu Jinglei to launder a large sum of money from his overseas assets.
They laundered their ill-gotten gains and cashed out their equity.
In this absurd cinematic extravaganza, a renowned director and a female stock market guru achieved a win-win situation in terms of capital.
……
Meanwhile, a joyous atmosphere permeated Haofeng Film and Television Department.
Director Han leaned back leisurely in his chair, his smile almost narrowing his eyes into slits.
As he mentally tallied up the accounts, he felt incredibly at ease.
After all, "Lost in Hong Kong" ultimately grossed 1.65 billion at the box office. After deducting various theater revenue sharing and the 150 million production cost, Haofeng earned a net profit of 500 million from this single item.
With this impressive achievement, he could deliver a satisfactory report to the boss, Li Feng, at the next board meeting with his eyes closed.
What amazed him even more was that the huge profits did not include the contribution from the animation department.
Old Han flipped through the financial statements sent by the animation department, his mind filled with admiration for the profits.
The 3D Chinese-style animated film "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," produced by Chen Jiahao, son of Chen Lao, achieved a box office miracle of 956 million yuan during the recent summer season, thanks to strong word-of-mouth and extensive promotion on Weibo.
This first shot by the animation department not only fired the first shot of the rise of Chinese animation, but also, as the absolute controlling shareholder of the wholly-owned project, contributed a net profit of 300 million yuan to the group after deducting production and distribution costs.
In the third quarter alone, the net profit of the film and animation business segments has already exceeded one billion yuan.
Compared to the embarrassing situation of barely surviving the first quarter, the air in the entire film and television department is now filled with anticipation for a hefty year-end bonus.
Meanwhile, the good news from the film and television department shows no signs of stopping even after entering the fourth quarter.
Just a few days after the National Day holiday film season kicked off, the low-budget comedy film "Goodbye Mr. Loser," spearheaded by Shen Teng and fully funded by Haofeng, took the box office by storm across the country as a dark horse.
According to publicly available data from cinemas, the film's screening rate has been artificially boosted to 38% during its remarkable comeback.
The daily box office even broke through the 100 million yuan mark, and almost all the audiences in cinemas across the country came for Shen Teng and the comedic elements.
Based on the current box office curve, this low-budget comedy is very likely to reach the 1 billion yuan mark at the box office.