Chapter 392: Foreign Income and Taiwan's Investment Layout
Chapter 392: Foreign Income and Taiwan's Investment Layout
Any market has a development process. Take the treatment of workers for example. In the past, many people in the mainland complained about the good things in Europe and the United States, but in fact, that was the result of the hard work of European and American workers in several lifetimes. In addition, the industrial scissors gap can reap the whole world, which can provide workers with a good enough life.
The current Hong Kong film market is still completely dominated by film companies and cinema chains. It is naturally impossible for actors to be eligible to participate in dividends. At most, they can be given more salary or other conditions after they become famous. They are not as stingy as Shaw Brothers.
As for better conditions, you have to fight for them with your strength. If you have the ability to become a popular figure in Asia, any film company will naturally give you higher respect and share of the profits, etc. The same goes for me.
"Okay, Mr. Yang," Zou Wenhuai nodded and agreed.
Yang Wendong added, "Since we are talking about Jin Yong's novels, I have another thing for you. TVB will start broadcasting this summer, so they are planning to shoot the TV series of The Legend of the Condor Heroes first. Please cooperate with us fully."
"No problem." Zou Wenhuai agreed immediately.
The sister companies within Changxing Group are all obliged to help each other, especially when the boss speaks up, and the help is not free, the other party will also pay according to market principles.
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "What about the situation of the film abroad?"
In any era, the main profits of Hong Kong films come from overseas. In the 90s, Southeast Asia was conquered by Hollywood's dinosaurs, and then it encountered policy restrictions and failed to seize the mainland market, and then it was completely finished.
Zou Wenhuai said: "For the foreign production, I have already negotiated with overseas companies, but the deal has not been finalized yet. But I estimate that the foreign production of these five films will be around one million Hong Kong dollars."
"One million?" Yang Wendong said with a smile: "That's really good, these are all pure profits."
"Yes, and there is another good news." Zou Wenhuai continued, "Because of the previous few films, our foreign films in Nanyang have achieved good results and have a certain historical record. It will be much easier to sell foreign films in the future."
Yang Wendong asked again: "What about the star training plan?"
Although cinema chains in Southeast Asia may recognize film companies, celebrities are more reliable because celebrities, once they become famous, can attract local people to watch movies. In any case, continuous successful box office is the guarantee of foreign investment.
Moreover, his current manufacturing industry is still mainly for civilian use, and many things are for ordinary people to use. Southeast Asia has a huge market. If the stars under his command have a strong appeal in Southeast Asia, it will also be of certain help to his core industry.
Zou Wenhuai replied: "I have an actor here, named Wang Yu, who has good martial arts skills and fights realistically. He is also quite famous in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and many people like to watch his fighting scenes.
So I plan to focus on training him and let him star in as many movies as possible to increase his fame. Once he has a solid foundation, I can also let Changxing Media promote him appropriately."
"Okay, let's give it a try." Yang Wendong nodded in agreement.
3% of a star's fame is due to himself, and % is due to capital. Capital is the main factor that drives a star's fame. Even in the era of self-media, only music can become popular with traffic.
Of course, the star himself must have the ability, otherwise the capital is not stupid and will not choose to promote incompetent people.
Zou Wenhuai replied: "Okay."
Yang Wendong asked again: "How is the construction of the film and television city going?"
Zou Wenhuai said: "Everything is going smoothly at the moment. We have found several teams to work on it at the same time. It is not a complicated building, but it involves a lot of ancient house structures, so it will take some time to decorate it.
So some structures will be ready for use in May, and others will be ready in August or September.”
"Not bad, the speed is quite fast." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "After the film and television city is built, the shooting cost can be further reduced and the speed can be even faster. Then you have to improve the efficiency of filming in the future."
Although we have to take the boutique route, we cannot lack quantity. This is completely different from the mainland, because there are many film companies in the mainland. Although there are many cinema chains, the time of a year is fixed, so the number of releases is greatly limited. We can only take the boutique route, and not the wolf pack route.
But in Hong Kong, there are only a few film companies, and cinemas often have to play old movies because there are no new movies released. Therefore, except for the summer vacation and the Chinese New Year period, cinemas have to go for the high-volume route at other times.
Goods and services also need to change in different markets; of course, the main overseas films still have to rely on high quality, otherwise Southeast Asia will not want junk movies.
Sometimes you have to have your cake and eat it too. Even if you can't get both, 7% of each is enough.
"Don't worry, Mr. Yang, I understand." Zou Wenhuai said.
Yang Wendong added, "Oh, there's one more thing. Come with me to Taiwan in a few days. My partner there is planning to invest in land to build a cinema chain, but he doesn't know much about site selection and management. He needs your help. Then, he will hire a local to manage it in Taiwan."
"Building a cinema chain in Taiwan? How many?" Zou Wenhuai asked happily.
Yang Wendong said earlier that the group would invest in overseas cinema chains. He originally thought it would take at least a few years, but he didn't expect that they would be ready to start in just over half a year.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "There is no limit on the number. You can build as many as you like. Try to choose cities, industrial areas and other places with large populations and good economies. As long as there is a suitable place, I have no objection if you build one in each place."
Today, the Hong Kong real estate market is preparing to put on the brakes and is also preparing to sell for cash. Even if the money is obtained this year, it will not be the right time to buy at the bottom next year. It will have to wait until 67 years. In this case, one cannot keep one's own funds in the bank to earn interest. It is better to invest in Taiwan, which has a good real estate market in the future and can also help the development of other industries.
Although Taiwan's population is far smaller than that of Southeast Asia, it has always been the largest source of income for Hong Kong films. This is mainly because the population here is all Chinese and they have a very high acceptance of Hong Kong culture. If film investment can generate stable returns, it will inevitably have a radical effect on creation.
Zou Wenhuai said happily: "Okay, then I can set off at any time."
"Okay, someone will notify you in a few days." Yang Wendong nodded.
Of course, he didn't go to Taiwan just for this little thing. It was a rare trip, and he had to inquire about many of his businesses involving Taiwan. Some important matters also needed his decision.
February 3:
Yang Wendong took Zou Wenhuai, Wei Zetao, Zheng Zhijie and others to Taiwan, took a boat and went directly to the port of Taipei.
"Mr. Yang, Mr. Wei, Mr. Zheng." The one who came to greet them was naturally Wang Yongqing, who shook hands and greeted them one by one.
Yang Wendong pointed at Zou Wenhuai and said, "Mr. Wang, this is Zou Wenhuai, the person in charge of Changxing Film Company."
"Mr. Zou, hello." Wang Yongqing also shook hands and asked with a smile: "Hong Kong movies are also very famous in Taiwan. I watched several of them last year, and I also watched the "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" you shot. It was very good." "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Wang." Zou Wenhuai said with a smile: "I also hope to shoot more high-quality movies, so that Chinese people around the world can see good works of art."
"Haha, OK." Wang Yongqing said with a smile, "Then let's discuss the investment in the cinema chain later."
"Okay." Zou Wenhuai agreed.
He also knew that Wang Yongqing was the strategic partner of Changxing Group in Taiwan and one of the richest and most powerful people in Taiwan. If Yang Wendong had not personally instructed him on this matter, he probably would not have bothered with the cinema business.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Haha, let's take a look together later."
"We have to eat before doing anything, Mr. Yang. I have prepared a banquet. How about we discuss it after we have eaten and drunk our fill?" Wang Yongqing said again.
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed.
After eating a Taiwanese seafood feast, everyone came to the center of Taipei City. Wang Yongqing pointed to a grocery store in front and said, "Mr. Yang, Mr. Zou, what do you think of this location?"
"It looks pretty good, and there's a lot of people around." Yang Wendong looked around and saw that this was a commercial street.
Wang Yongqing smiled and said, "This store was built in the 30s and is going to be demolished. I plan to buy it and then build a cinema directly as a flagship cinema in Taiwan. What do you think?"
"It sounds good, and the area here is large enough." Yang Wendong took another look and said, "What's the price here?"
Wang Yongqing thought for a moment and said, "The area here is about 600 square meters. If it is priced in Hong Kong dollars, it will cost about 50 Hong Kong dollars."
"50? It's not a lot." Yang Wendong nodded.
In today's Hong Kong, let alone Central and Causeway Bay, even in some town centers on the Kowloon Peninsula, if you want to buy a property with land of a similar size to the one in front of you, it will cost at least 200 million.
Although Taipei's economy is not as good as Hong Kong's, it is still much stronger than a town in Hong Kong. At this time, Taiwan's real estate has not been developed much, and because its area is much larger than Hong Kong, the land is not very valuable.
Wang Yongqing said, "Yes, it's not expensive. The amount of investment required to build a cinema and import various equipment later is probably about the same."
"What about other places? How many rooms are there?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Wang Yongqing replied: "Other places are much better. The land is much cheaper, and the equipment and decoration can be a little worse. I estimate that a cinema can be built for three or five hundred thousand, which is less than half of this one.
But Mr. Yang and Mr. Zou, you can't just look at the fact that the investment is much smaller than in Hong Kong. Movie tickets in Taiwan are also cheaper than in Hong Kong. The time it takes to recover the cost may not necessarily be as good as in Hong Kong."
"That's okay." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "What I value more is being able to control this market."
It doesn’t really matter if the cinema chain doesn’t make money, the cost of future land price increases alone will be enough;
In fact, this is the same as the physical industry. Gradually, the entire industry chain, from the cinemas where movies are shot, the film companies themselves, and the channel theaters, are all controlled in their own hands. Therefore, which link in the middle makes a profit and which loses money is simply a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other. At that time, you only need to decide based on development needs or tax needs.
"Okay, then there will be no problem on my side." Wang Yongqing said with a smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Wang." Yang Wendong looked at Zou Wenhuai and said, "Mr. Zou, please cooperate with us and first determine which urban areas need to build cinema lines, and then decide how many to build based on the local population and economy;
As for where to build each place, that is something to consider later, so there is no need to rush to sort it out for now.”
"Okay, I understand." Zou Wenhuai nodded and said, "I will visit some friends in the film industry in Taiwan in the next few days. I can also ask their opinions on this issue."
"Your friends are also in the cinema, right?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile.
Zou Wenhuai said: "Yes, I knew them when I was at Shaw Brothers, but they didn't know that our group was planning to build a cinema chain in Taiwan, and I wouldn't say anything. Besides, it's not us who are investing."
"Haha, yes, it was invested by Mr. Wang." Yang Wendong smiled.
Taiwan's current legal policies prohibit overseas capital from directly investing in the service and real estate industries, which means that Yang Wendong can only invest indirectly and operate under the name of Wang Yongqing.
However, there are security guarantees, namely other agreements. Besides, we are also a major shareholder and customer of the other party's core industry, so the risk of forced breach of contract is not great.
Zou Wenhuai left very soon. He also knew that the boss's visit to Taiwan was just a side job to deal with the cinema chain, as Changxing Group had more important things to do.
Yang Wendong, Wang Yongqing and others came to the door of a large supermarket on the other side of Taipei City. This was the first supermarket in Taiwan: Carrefour.
Looking at the flow of people in front of him, Yang Wendong said with a smile: "This business is really good."
"Yeah, I didn't think of that at first." Wang Yongqing also said with emotion: "In fact, I don't usually buy things at home. Later, after this place opened, the flow of people was very high, and I learned that things are really much cheaper than other places."
Yang Wendong looked at Liu Huayu and asked, "The prices in Taiwan were more expensive than in Hong Kong before?"
Liu Huayu nodded and said, “Yes, I didn’t expect it, but it’s true. Except for basic food, which may be a little better, all other industrial products are more expensive than in Hong Kong.
This is also because Hong Kong's industry is stronger than Taiwan's, and it is also a trade center, so the cost of shipping industrial products overseas is much lower, and there are many cheap materials from the mainland."
"In that case, although some Southeast Asian countries are poor, prices are also very high?" Yang Wendong asked.
PS: Ask for monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)