Chapter 527 Ultraman in the Early Stage of Investment

Chapter 527 Ultraman in the Early Stage of Investment

Chapter 527 Ultraman in the Early Stage of Investment
Time flies and it is March again;
The Voice of Hong Kong event has already started in Hong Kong. The newspapers first published the news to inform the relevant public. This is also equivalent to targeted delivery. Although those who can sing do not necessarily need to be literate, most of them can do both.

The next step was naturally for TVB to promote the show, placing advertisements during prime time; at the same time, it also sent out the most primitive team to many schools and rap venues to look for suitable targets. No matter how strong the publicity was in the first year, it was impossible to attract many people. For the sake of the program effect, they could only launch the show where they could.

As for movies and TV series, due to the huge amount of resources invested, overseas theater chains have brought huge economic benefits after being self-owned. Not only Changxing Group, but also many actors, screenwriters, directors and even ordinary workers and extras have earned a lot of income. The increase in group income will naturally drive the development of the industry.

Hong Kong's cultural industries have also begun to export to overseas markets in small batches, but the main groups are still Chinese people in Asia. Whether it is movies, TV series or celebrities, they have not entered the non-Chinese market, which is too difficult.
But the comics industry is much easier;

On the 6th, Yang Wendong arrived at the floor of Changxing Culture Company. As soon as he entered, he felt that there were too many people inside;

Knowing that the boss was coming, Zhang Zhiyuan and Wu Hailin had been waiting for a long time.

"We have to arrange a new place for you to work." Yang Wendong said, "This floor is too crowded for you."

In the early years, Changxing Culture was relatively small, so it was directly located in Changxing Building. Later, when it became larger, it did not move away like other subsidiaries.
This is mainly because in other companies, Yang Wendong only needed to provide some opinions and then observe the results, but the comics business is different. There are too many contents that require Yang Wendong to keep an eye on, so he has been here all the time.

But as the business developed, the number of employees at Changxing Culture Company naturally increased.

Zhang Zhiyuan replied: "Mr. Yang, many of our animation productions are no longer in Changxing Building. Now we are only doing some content design and early comic production."

"Then let's do this," Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "The important comics team will stay, and the others will go nearby. I'll ask Changxing Real Estate to find a location nearby."

Zhang Zhiyuan agreed and said, "Okay, Mr. Yang."

Afterwards, Yang Wendong made a round in the comics department. Now, after years of development, in addition to a few comics by Yang Wendong, most of the comics in the comics company are conceived by their own people;

The main content of Changxing Comic Daily was also created by the original team;
A company that can generate its own revenue is a good company under the control of a time traveler. The time traveler's creativity can enable the company to develop rapidly, but the company must not rely solely on the time traveler.

After arriving at the conference room, Yang Wendong asked, "How is Peppa Pig doing in the United States?"

Nowadays, regardless of the scale of Changxing Group or the achievements of Changxing Culture in producing multiple comics, the only thing that can interest him is Peppa Pig, and the others are fine as long as they are not bad;

If Page achieves success, he will have the basic capital to cooperate with many overseas TV stations, so as to meet the development needs of his other real industries.

Zhang Zhiyuan replied: "Mr. Yang, Peppa Pig has been broadcast on the Los Angeles State TV station in the United States, and the ratings are gradually increasing. I have already negotiated with ABC and NBC.

In addition, it has also achieved very good results in the UK, with the ratings ranking third among cartoons, which is a very good result. Even the British ITV TV station predicted that it might take first place because the children who have watched it like it very much. "

"Are there any European countries that want to purchase the copyright?" Yang Wendong asked again.

"Peppa Pig" was able to carve out a path in the past when the Internet was well developed and the entertainment threshold was high. Even if we take into account the impact of the times in this era, it should still have good results.

However, the disadvantage is that the speed of dissemination is too slow. Without the Internet, it is difficult for a product to spread to other places. It is not like Douyin and TIKTOK in the past, which can promote popular content all over the world within a day.

Zhang Zhiyuan replied: "Not yet. However, after it became famous in the UK, a TV station in Australia asked about it. It is possible that the spread in the Commonwealth is faster than in Europe."

"Then let's focus on developing English-speaking countries first." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "First, we will achieve results in the English-speaking regions, and then we can focus on other countries."

In cultural communication, language is very important. Language can spread quickly, and this is also true in the Internet age.
Why have no Internet companies been born in Europe and the United States? In addition to being suppressed by the Americans, the different languages ​​​​can kill Internet companies.

"Okay." Zhang Zhiyuan agreed.

Yang Wendong asked again: "Is there any progress in the surrounding area?"

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "I have been producing various Peppa Pig toys and stickers. The stickers and puppet toys are selling well in the UK, but the plastic Peppa Pig toys are not selling well. Several companies that make cups, school bags and children's clothes have also approached us for image licensing.

I guess the same thing may happen when other European and American markets open up in the future.”

"It's really not a good idea to make a plastic toy with Peppa Pig's image." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It seems that most people who like Peppa Pig are girls."

Zhang Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Yes, the data collected in Hong Kong before also found this point. Peppa Pig's main customers are girls. Boys have to be very young to like it. Once they grow up a little, they may like fighting toys or cartoons."

"This is normal. Boys like fighting more. Japan's Ultraman is very popular among them." Yang Wendong followed.

Not to mention now, even decades later, little boys will like Ultraman. Those cards that cost 3 yuan a pack can make tens of billions of yuan a year in the mainland, and its money-making ability is truly amazing.

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Ultraman is indeed somewhat famous in Japan at present, but I heard that the filming of this movie suffered heavy losses, and the company behind it can no longer bear it."

"Really?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Then send someone to Japan to investigate. If they are short of funds, I can invest." In fact, he had thought about making Ultraman in Hong Kong in his early years, but eventually gave up. It's not that he couldn't afford a little loss, but that Hong Kong simply didn't have this kind of cultural atmosphere, nor did it have the relevant talents, technology, etc.
In other words, apart from the requirements of the boss Yang Wendong, there is nothing else. In this case, it is difficult to make the project. Moreover, if an animated film wants to be launched overseas, it must first have achievements in the local market.

Because Japan had once been favored by the little boy and the fat man, and because of the lack of understanding of nuclear eggs, various topics of radiation and mutation covered the entire country, and as a result, various monsters such as Godzilla were born. In this environment, with a customer base of nearly 100 million and an average economy much stronger than that of Hong Kong, "Ultraman" suffered losses for many years in the early days. It was not until the IP became famous that it was able to make a profit by relying on peripheral products.

Hong Kong does not have such a culture and has a small population. If it goes against the market, it will only be punished by the market.
Although he is not very familiar with the history of Ultraman, Yang Wendong also remembers that this IP was popular in Japan for a while in the early years, but later declined due to boring plots, excessive violence and other reasons. It was not until the 90s that it gradually became popular. He also has plenty of time to participate in it.

I just didn't expect that I would have this opportunity now.

Zhang Zhiyuan agreed: "Okay, we also have a branch in Japan. I will ask them to investigate the situation of the company behind Ultraman."

A week later, Zhang Zhiyuan and Wu Hailin came to Yang Wendong's office;

"Mr. Yang, here is the information that my colleague in Japan found." Zhang Zhiyuan handed over a piece of information and continued to introduce: "The company behind Ultraman is called Tsuburaya Productions. In 66, they filmed the first Ultraman, which was very popular and eye-catching at the time;

But after a year or two, because of the repetitive plot and similar themes, every episode was about fighting monsters, which led to fewer and fewer people watching. The filming of the show also required real people, props, and city models, which was very expensive, and it has been in a loss-making state.
Last year, there were basically no new Ultraman episodes filmed, probably because the cost was too high and the money couldn’t be recovered.”

"Are they going to give up the Ultraman IP?" Yang Wendong asked.

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "That shouldn't be the case. A reporter interviewed the president of Tsuburaya Company, and he publicly stated that he would not give up Ultraman. It's just that due to financial pressure, he can only shoot slowly or go for the high-quality route."

"If it's because of money, then it's easy." Yang Wendong said, "Immediately contact the colleagues there and ask them to communicate with Tsuburaya Company. Tell them that I can invest so that they have enough money to film Ultraman."

Rather than working hard to shoot by myself, it is better to invest in professionals. After all, as a time traveler, I only know the IP, but I have no idea how to shoot it or what kind of monsters to shoot. It is difficult to rely on the team in Hong Kong.
More importantly, he cannot always portray monsters destroying and attacking Hong Kong in his comics. The general public will not accept this. Even in Japan, many people are dissatisfied with the fact that monsters always attack Japan. After all, Japan is just a small country in the world. Why don’t monsters attack the United States?
Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Okay."

A few days later, Zhang Zhiyuan came to Yang Wendong again and said, "Mr. Yang, there is news from Japan that Tsuburaya Company is interested in our investment, but he hopes to come to Hong Kong to negotiate with us."

"Okay, let him come over." Yang Wendong naturally agreed.

If you accept investment from a large company, you must understand it clearly, especially for a cultural company. It is not just a matter of money, but also involves content quality and so on.

So, the next day, Tsuburaya Productions' president Eiji Tsuburaya brought Ultraman producer Toru Narita to Hong Kong and met Yang Wendong.

"Hello, Mr. Yang." The two Japanese bowed very low, which made Yang Wendong a little unhappy, but he still said, "Welcome to Hong Kong, please take a seat."

Afterwards, the assistant made tea for everyone. After a few pleasantries, they immediately got straight to the point. Tsuburaya Eiji asked, "Mr. Yang, I want to ask, why did you invest in my company? Are you optimistic about Ultraman?"

"Yes, I like Ultraman very much, and my son likes it too." Yang Wendong lied.

In his previous life, he did like it when he was a child, but now that he is an adult, how could he possibly like this? It’s not that adults can’t like it, but they like it less, or they miss the memories of their childhood very much;

"I feel very honored that Mr. Yang likes our product." Tsuburaya Eiji was naturally very happy and said, "I also like Ultraman very much. I hope more people will do the same as us. It's just that the cost of shooting Ultraman is too expensive, so we can only cut costs a lot of the time, but this also leads to poor quality of shooting, so the results are getting worse and worse."

"If you have the funds, can you shoot better?" Yang Wendong asked.

Eiji Tsuburaya said: “Yes, if you want to do a lot of details well, you have to spend money, make various city props realistic, and use high-definition cameras and films;
Mr. Yang also has film and TV drama companies under his umbrella, and he knows how expensive this kind of filming is. In 66, Ultraman had a high ratings, so we could still maintain this filming, but later the ratings dropped, and the income was not good, so we could not maintain it. "

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "This kind of special effects drama is indeed very expensive, and it is indeed very costly to maintain high quality, but I personally like Ultraman, so I am willing to invest;

And I have some resources in Asia, so maybe I can help promote Ultraman.”

In fact, the fundamental reason why Ultraman could not be filmed was that Japan's economy had not yet reached its peak. Although many Japanese products were selling well around the world at this time, they were still far from their peak.
Even at the peak, the first to become wealthy are the big capitalists, and ordinary people still need a transition period before they can gradually become wealthy.

The most basic example is that when the British Empire was at its peak, domestic workers also lived very poorly. Or in the 21s of the 20st century, domestic industries swept the world, but ordinary people lived far worse than those in Europe and the United States. The fundamental reason is that the popularization of wealth was delayed, and it would only take some time for it to be better.

Originally in history, in the 70s, Japan's economy began to take off, and various cultural industries including Ultraman began to rise. Of course, the real peak was after Ultraman became popular in mainland China in the 90s, which was the real money-making industry.

"We are also happy to cooperate with Mr. Yang." Eiji Tsuburaya said with a bow.

Their company is really short of money now, and other Japanese financial institutions are simply unwilling to invest, so now they can only turn to Hong Kong people.

After several days of negotiations, Tsuburaya Productions and Changxing Culture reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Tsuburaya Productions' shares for US$30 million, which also included all copyrights to Ultraman and a number of monsters.

PS: Today is the first update
(End of this chapter)